Biden to release US strategic oil reserve to battle rising gas prices ahead of midterms

U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan on Wednesday to sell 15 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's emergency supply and begin refilling the reserve, as he tries to dampen high gasoline prices ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 8.

The move came two weeks after the Saudi Arabia-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rankled Biden by siding with Russia and agreeing to a production cut, raising fears of a new spike in U.S. pump prices.

"With my announcement today, we're going to continue to stabilize markets and decrease the prices at a time when the actions of other countries have caused such volatility," Biden said at a White House event.

Biden blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for higher crude and gasoline prices, while noting prices had fallen 30 per cent from their peak earlier this year.

He also repeated a plea to U.S. energy companies, gasoline retailers and refiners, asking them to stop using record-breaking profits to buy back stock, and to invest in production instead.

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