Biden energy adviser says administration will authorize additional oil releases 'if necessary'
By Betsy Klein and Shawna Mizelle, CNNUpdated: Wed, 19 Oct 2022 13:36:58 GMTSource: CNNThe Biden administration will release additional barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "if necessary" in a
By Betsy Klein and Shawna Mizelle, CNNUpdated: Wed, 19 Oct 2022 13:36:58 GMT
Source: CNN
The Biden administration will release additional barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "if necessary" in addition to the 15 million barrels recently authorized to be sold this December, a Biden senior adviser told CNN on Wednesday.
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security, confirmed President Joe Biden's plan to authorize an additional 15 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on CNN's "New Day" and suggested that any future release would be dependent on global markets and Russia's actions in Ukraine.
CNN previously reported Biden's plan to make a formal announcement regarding the 15 million barrels as his administration seeks to counter market pressures created by the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production targets just three weeks from the midterm elections.
Pressed by CNN's John Berman as to what would lead to any additional releases, Hochstein said, "If necessary -- look, the Russians have clearly stated that we can't be sure what they're going to do next and we have some measures that are coming into place in Europe over the next several months. So the President's going to keep a careful eye and announcing today -- that whatever we're doing today could continue and see additional SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) releases, if necessary."
He suggested a "combination of things" could lead to such a decision, including international actions that lead to a spike in gas prices, but declined to get into hypothetical scenarios.
Wednesday's announcement of the sale is the latest step in the White House's unprecedented plan to balance global markets and dampen soaring gas prices. It marks an extension of the six-month program that was designed to provide a bridge for domestic producers to ramp up their own production as the global market faced spasms in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, even as the release is composed of barrels earmarked in his March announcement.
Hochstein on Wednesday also highlighted Biden's plans to "replenish" the Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- which is now at its lowest level in nearly 40 years -- and buy back oil when prices go down to approximately $70 per barrel. He said the administration is asking the oil and gas industry to increase production and "start investing" but said there is still "a lot" of oil remaining in the reserves.
"We still have a lot there, we have over 400 million barrels, that's a lot of barrels. We're going to use them if we need to. But we want the industry to increase production right now so that their barrels -- the private sector barrels can come into the market. That's not necessarily the role of the SPR," he said.
Hochstein said the current price of gas is "too high" and argued that the profit gap for oil companies is also "too high."
"The President wants those prices to come down even further and faster. And he's going to take whatever action necessary in order to make sure that consumers don't have to pay the price for wars that are happening in Europe," he said.
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