The Biden administration passed on an opportunity to buy oil to replenish the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) on Tuesday, citing high prices, according to Bloomberg News.
The Department of Energy (DOE) decided against purchasing up to 3 million barrels to replenish the SPR, which President Joe Biden drained ahead of the 2022 midterm elections as soaring gas prices caused a political headache for Biden and his fellow Democrats, according to Bloomberg News. Oil prices ticked above $85 per barrel Tuesday for the first time since October 2023, putting would-be refill purchases well above the administration’s stated target price of $79 per barrel.
The DOE said that it chose to pass on this round of refill purchases because it is “keeping the taxpayer’s interest at the forefront” of its decision-making, according to Bloomberg News. The administration purchased 2.8 million refill barrels in March at about $81 per barrel, $2 above the stated target price.
According to the White House, Joe Biden has: “presided over the largest historical release of barrels of oil from the strategic reserve, one hundred and eighty million barrels.”
Only problem? Millions of those barrels went to China, and not us. Thanks Joe! pic.twitter.com/egHQ50Ei5u
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 18, 2022
The SPR currently holds about 363 million barrels of oil, down from about 638 million at the end of 2020, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The SPR is currently at its lowest levels since 1983.
The Biden administration decided to release approximately 180 million barrels from America’s key oil stockpile in 2021 and 2022, with several million barrels being sold to China.
Former President Donald Trump pushed to top off the SPR in the spring of 2020, when the policy response to the coronavirus pandemic effectively tanked oil prices. Democrats slammed Trump’s plan to refill the key oil reserve when prices hovered around $25 per barrel, characterizing the plan as a handout to major energy corporations; the DOE now describes its refill purchases at significantly higher prices as a “good deal for taxpayers.”
The DOE did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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