The 15 million barrels are the last remaining barrels of the 180 million he authorized for sale in March - and there's no reason to think he won't authorize even more for release.
Biden did acknowledge that he'd drained the reserve - but said that his administration would begin to refill it once crude prices fall to $70 a barrel.
In March 2020 Donald Trump proposed purchasing 77 million barrels of oil to refill the strategic reserve to its maximum capacity when prices were $24 a barrel. Democrats blocked the move, blasting it as somehow being a "bailout" for the oil industry.
The strategic reserve was already at its lowest level since 1984 before this announcement.
When questioned if this obviously politically motivated decision was politically motivated, Biden denied the allegation, and said he was motivated "to make sure I continue to push on what I’ve been pushing on."This should be a gigantic scandal. pic.twitter.com/FkCExemq5Q
— Ekdahl Press Office (@EkdahlPress) October 19, 2022
The timing of this announcement aside, the U.S. uses roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, so it's unlikely to make the impact on prices that Biden hopes.
Matt Palumbo is the author of The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
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