US begins selling strategic oil reserves
The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday (Friday) that it will sell 18 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic reserve on Dec.
President Joe Biden’s administration announced in November that it will release approximately 50 million barrels of its reserves in collaboration with other consumer countries, including China, India and South Korea, as part of the response to high fuel costs.
Although President Biden has no means to combat crude oil prices, as the oil industry is a global market affected by many factors, the White House is trying to allay US concerns over rising fuel costs and inflation.
Due to the high demand for fuel worldwide, oil prices reached the highest level of the last 7 years towards the end of October and rose to $ 86 per barrel. However, the price in question decreased by 13 percent afterwards. This development was partly due to the announcement made by the USA and partly the emergence of the Omikron variant, which reduced travel worldwide.
The barrel price index of Brent oil closed at a record $75.15 on Friday.
According to the U.S. Automobile Association, retail gasoline prices in the U.S. reached $3.33 per gallon, the lowest level since mid-October. Because gallon prices peaked at $3.42 in early November.
While the United States has nearly 600 million barrels of crude at huge facilities in Texas and Louisiana, the country’s current oil stocks are the lowest on record since 2003.
