Media: intervention left the US with a record low oil strategic reserve

MOSCOW, 24 Sep — PRIME. Record-breaking commodity interventions, which were sanctioned by President Joe Biden in an attempt to drive down gasoline prices, have left the US with nearly 40 years of record low strategic oil reserves on the eve of likely turbulence in global fuel markets, The Wall Street Journal writes. .

The strategic reserve held roughly 427 million barrels of oil as of September 16, the lowest level since 1984.

Since March 31, when Biden ordered the release of about 180 million barrels, at a million barrels per day for six months, the state reserve has decreased by 155 million barrels, for the first time since 1983, being less than commercial reserves in the country.

Retail gasoline prices retreated from historical highs against the backdrop of commodity interventions and fell for almost a hundred days. A gallon averaged $3.689 the day before, up from a July 14 record of $5.016.

Biden’s political opponents, including former President Donald Trump, accuse the Democratic administration of using oil reserves that are earmarked for natural disasters or wars to score extra points ahead of the November congressional elections.

According to experts, the decision to empty the strategic reserve was made in response to the expected fall in Russian oil exports. Its supplies, however, fell not by three million barrels per day, as the International Energy Agency once predicted, but by only 400-450 thousand barrels compared to the period preceding the conflict in Ukraine.

It is noted that a more serious failure, which the United States will approach without a comfortable level of reserves, is possible when the European ban on Russian oil imports comes into force on December 5.