The Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facility located in Brazoria County, Texas, is one of four sites that make up the country’s oil reserve.
New | Reuters
The United States will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help reduce energy costs during the Iran war, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said late Wednesday.
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump said earlier in the day that he would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to rein in energy prices.
“We’ll do it and then we’ll fill it,” Trump said in an interview with Cincinnati station WKRC.
“I filled it once and I will fill it again, but now we will reduce it a little and that makes the prices go down,” the president said.
Gasoline prices in the United States have risen to about $3.58 a gallon on average as the Iran war has caused a massive disruption to global oil supplies, according to motoring group AAA. The current retail price is almost 22% higher than the same period last month, when gasoline cost about $2.94.
Trump’s comments come after the International Energy Agency agreed on Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil to address the supply disruption. This is the largest launch in the IEA’s more than 50-year history.
The United States is a member of the IEA along with more than 30 other economies in Europe, North America, and Northeast Asia.
The United States currently has 415 million barrels of oil in its strategic reserve, about 58% of the authorized capacity of 714 million barrels. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNBC earlier Wednesday that Trump would ultimately decide whether the United States participates in the IEA action.
“I think what you’re hearing today from the IEA is reasonable on their part, but clearly whether the United States participates is up to President Trump, he will make the final decision on that,” Burgum told CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
