The Biden administration officials plan to announce Wednesday the final, 15 million barrels of oil tranche from its strategic reserve of the disbursement of 180 million announced in March.
The new release comes less than a month before Election Day and as energy prices threaten to rise additionally, threatening to emerge again as a drag on Democrats at a time when polls show the economy is one of the key issues voters have in mind as they head to the ballot box.
In some states, early voting began this week.
Senior administration officials also announced Tuesday evening a plan to buy back crude oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is now at its lowest level since the mid-1980s.
The announcement has sent a market signal to producers to keep pumping oil ahead of November midterms.
Indicating that the administration would like to see the price of oil decline, officials plan to begin with repurchases when prices are between $67 and $72 per barrel, also adding that they’re keeping all tools on the table with regard to the possibility of limiting oil exports.
After OPEC+ announced earlier in October a production cut of 2 million BPD, oil prices rebounded to more than $90 – with West Texas Intermediate crude now selling at $83 per barrel – after dipping as low as $75 per barrel in September.
Stressing that he wants the energy sector to take the signal and increase production, President Biden noted he wants to make sure energy refining companies are giving the consumer the appropriate price as they are taking huge profits by keeping the retailer margin over the refinery price on more than 40% above the typical level.
On top of that, the Department of Energy also announced it will institute a rule that will allow it to enter fixed-price contracts through competitive bids for crude oil products to be delivered at future dates.
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