President Joe Biden has ordered his officials to prepare for more releases from the US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve as he approved the sale of a further 15mn barrels of oil in December and put in place a plan to replenish the dwindling emergency stockpile.
Senior administration officials on Tuesday night said Biden would make the announcements on Wednesday during a speech on his efforts to tame high petrol prices, which have been a political liability for Democrats ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
After a sharp fall during the summer, prices at the pump have been edging up again in recent weeks. At just below $4 per gallon, they are almost 60 per cent higher than when Biden took office in January 2021.