President Joe Biden’s administration should turn to emergency oil reserves to curb rising gasoline prices as Americans enter the holiday season, the majority leader of the U.S. said Senate, Chuck Schumer.
“We are here today because we need immediate gas pump relief and the place to look is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Schumer, a Democrat, said at a news conference in New York.
Rising gasoline prices and car sales fueled a solid rise in prices for US producers in October, as oil surpassed $ 80 a barrel, and OPEC and its allies rejected requests from states. United to pump more.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said last Monday that Biden could act, but it was not yet known whether he would authorize a sale of the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is held in a series of deposits off the Texas and Louisiana coasts. .
Analysts have warned that an injection from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would only have a short-term effect, as it would not increase US production capacity.
As the US economy wakes up after the coronavirus pandemic, supply and demand cannot keep up, especially with supply chain disruptions, Schumer said.
“No industry is spared. But gasoline is the worst of all,” Schumer said. “Let’s lower the price of gasoline right now. This will do it.”
