The Biden administration exported more than 5 million barrels of oil from its emergency reserves that were released in order to combat sky-high gas prices here at home, according to a report.
The US sent the oil, which was taken from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) that the Biden administration tapped into in hopes of getting mounting energy prices under control, to Asia and Europe, Reuters is reporting.
Among the shipments were two cargo ships carrying 560,000 barrels each from Atlantic Trading & Marketing, part of France’s TotalEnergies, according to Reuters.
And Phillips 66, the fourth-largest oil supplier in the US, sent about 470,000 barrels from a storage facility in Texas to Trieste, Italy, where a pipeline feeds refineries in central Europe.
The exports follow similar shipments of Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude in April, when three ships went to Europe to replace Russian oil.
Overall, US oil exports have been surging since Russia invaded Ukraine in February as Western countries and companies turn away from Russian supplies.
Biden authorized the release of a million barrels a day from April onwards. But his action has done little to combat soaring gas prices, with the national average sitting at $4.74 as of Tuesday – still far above the $2.28-a-gallon average from just before he took office.
Biden’s announcement about releasing the oil barrels was made in April, and saw him say: ‘These releases will put more than one million barrels per day on the market over the next six months, and will help address supply disruptions caused by Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine and the Price Hike that Americans are facing at the pump.’
The Biden administration has been releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to lower fuel prices. Releases are at a record pace of roughly 1 million barrels a day, bringing the stockpile to the lowest level since 1986 in June.
Early last month, the average gallon of gas in the US climbed to a record high of $5. Gas prices have been coming down for the past three weeks, though they remain elevated. And oil prices have fallen amid fears of a recession and the rising dollar.
But it has had little effect, with a closer look at the press release revealing that the oil released from the strategic reserve was always destined for the highest bidder – even if they were overseas.
“Crude and fuel prices would likely be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was assumed,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.
The latest exports follow three vessels that carried SPR crude to Europe in April helping replace Russian crude supplies.
U.S. crude inventories are at the lowest since 2004 as refineries run near peak levels. Refineries in the U.S. Gulf coast were at 97.9% utilization, the most in three and a half years.
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