The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden has ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve for six months in an effort to lower energy prices, which have risen sharply since the United States and its allies imposed harsh sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is also urging Congress to impose financial penalties on oil and gas corporations that lease public lands but do not produce, the White House said in a statemnt. He also plans to use the Defense Production Act to stimulate the mining of essential minerals for batteries in electric vehicles, as part of a larger drive to move away from fossil fuels and toward greener energy sources.
The measures show that oil remains a major vulnerability for the United States both at home and internationally. Higher prices have harmed Biden's domestic approval ratings while also adding billions of dollars in oil export revenue to Russia's war chest as it fights Ukraine. Although Biden has already ordered releases from the strategic reserves without effecting a significant movement in oil markets, the release of stockpiles in the United States would create pressures that could lower oil prices. Part of Biden's concern is that high oil prices have not yet resulted in a significant increase in oil production.
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