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President Joe Biden looks poised to announce more releases from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Thursday, as his administration makes an effort to address rises for gasoline prices and pin those increases on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is slated to speak at 1:30 p.m. Eastern about his administration’s “actions to reduce the impact of Putin’s price hike on energy prices and lower gas prices at the pump for American families,” the White House said in a statement.
His remarks are coming after reports late Tuesday said he’s preparing to order the release of up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve.
See: Biden set to release up to 1 million barrels a day from oil reserve to tame gas prices
Biden has tapped the reserve twice already in recent months, with a November release of 50 million barrels and a release of 30 million barrels in early March after Russia’s war on Ukraine began, both in coordination with other countries.
Futures for West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
CLK22,
fell sharply Thursday to around $104 a barrel, as traders absorbed reports about the expected U.S. release of reserves, along with news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have stuck with a plan to raise output in May.
West Texas Intermediate crude had been rallying before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, with prices in mid-February topping $95 a barrel and hitting levels last seen in 2014. WTI then spiked in the wake of the invasion, briefly trading above $130 a barrel on March 7, but it has since pulled back.
Now read: Diesel’s cost climb could hit consumers harder than record gasoline prices
And see: Gasoline prices fall for first time in 12 weeks, but expert says decline may be short-lived
