On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced plans to release one million barrels of oil per day for six months from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The expected drawdown would remove about one-third of the current stockpile.
According to the U.S. Energy Dept., the emergency crude held in the SPR is stored in four massive underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast, including two in Texas and two in Louisiana.
The White House said the president's move is designed to bring down historically-high fuel prices. As of Friday, the national average price for regular unleaded was still at $4.21 a gallon, according to AAA. When asked how much American consumers could eventually save at the pump, Mr. Biden said "10 to 35 cents a gallon."
One analyst called the SPR release "symbolic," while some Republican lawmakers claim it could jeopardize national security. And the president is applying new pressure on major oil companies to do more exploration. KRLD's Chris Sommer talked with Gas Buddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick DeHaan.
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