Biden Announces Release Of 50 Million Barrels Of Oil From Strategic Petroleum Reserve

President Joe Biden announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) on Tuesday as high gas prices continue to affect Americans across the country.

The U.S. Department of Energy has a two-pronged plan for the release, with 32 million barrels being part of an exchange over the course of several months, according to the White House. Eighteen million more barrels “will be an acceleration into the next several months of a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorized,” according to the administration.

The SPR is a supply of oil kept for emergencies and hasn’t yet been used to help with oil prices, according to a CNBC report. While tapping into the SPR could help with prices for the short-term, its long-term results may be less effective, the report added.

“This is the first time we have done something like this in parallel with other major energy consuming nations,” one senior administration official said, noting that the release is being taken in parallel with China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the U.K.