WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is delaying plans to restock United States (US) emergency oil reserve amid a price hike that has pushed oil above USD80 a barrel.
The Energy Department (DOE) cancelled a planned purchase of six million barrels for the strategic reserve this week, saying it wants to secure a good deal for taxpayers.
The administration said it remains committed to refilling the reserve, which US President Joe Biden significantly drained last year in a bid to stop gasoline prices from rising amid production cuts by OPEC and a ban on Russian oil imports because of the conflict in Ukraine.
“The DOE remains committed to its replenishment strategy for the SPR, including direct purchases when we can secure a good deal for taxpayers,” Energy Department Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Bartol said in a statement, using a nickname for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the official name for the emergency stockpile.
Officials also will use targeted exchange returns and cancellation of planned oil sales “where drawdown is unnecessary, in coordination with Congress”, Bartol said.
Biden withdrew 180 million barrels from the strategic reserve starting in March 2022, bringing the stockpile to its lowest level since the 1980s. Biden’s drawdown brought the reserve to about half its approximately 700-million-barrel capacity as he sought to tame high gasoline prices in the aftermath of Russia-Ukraine conflict. Tapping the reserve is among the few actions a president can take by himself to try to control inflation, an election-year liability for the party in control of the White House.
The Energy Department began refilling the reserve earlier this year, purchasing 6.3 million barrels and cancelling 140 million barrels in congressionally mandated sales that were set to occur in the next three years.
