The United States is committed to replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but will not rush to do so immediately despite the recent drop in oil prices, a senior Biden administration official said.
“Why don’t we take it one day at a time,” Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power.”
“We’ve seen a decline in oil prices, we’re seeing a bit of a downturn,” Hochstein said. “We should take a deep breath and wait and see how this crisis affects the oil and gas industry now, the production and what the profile is. So far the prices have come down. We are watching it very closely, we will continue to watch it for the next days”.
The SPR, which was designed to protect the country from supply disruptions, currently stands at 371.6 million barrels, the lowest since the 1980s, after a historic release of 180 million barrels last year to tame gas prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
The administration previously set out a plan to replenish the reserve at prices close to $70 a barrel. WTI futures fell to nearly $66 in New York on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden “remains committed to replenishing the SPR after last year’s extraordinary draws,” Hochstein said. “Nothing happens overnight. You have to decide that this is the right environment, so you wait and see where the prices go.”
