In order to fight high gas prices, an additional one million barrels of oil will be released per day from the national Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next six months, the White House announced on Thursday.
President Biden says he is going to drain roughly one-third of the nation's oil reserve. It's the largest release ever. He suggested it could help gas prices go down by as much as $0.35 a gallon.
"In the grand scheme of things, 100,000 barrels is not going to drastically change the price at the pump, said Xavier Tison at SMU's Maguire Energy Institute. "I think he's trying to show this image that he's making an impact."
Predicting where the price is going to go will be difficult, according to Tison. "A majority of the time you can predict its direction, but the variance is anyone's guess. Even agencies that are specifically oriented for oil and gas, famously, do not get it right."
As of Friday morning, the statewide average price for a gallon of regular is $3.83, which is down two pennies from Thursday and about a nickel from last week. AAA said prices decreased because demand dropped and crude prices were on a roller coaster. It added that prices might continue going down with the release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve.
Drivers in Texas are paying the sixth lowest gas price average in the country, according to AAA.
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