A new report claims President Joe Biden missed his chance to refill America’s oil reserve after depleting it for political reasons.
According to Reuters, the Biden Administration seeks to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for $79 a barrel or less. It is worth noting that there was a time when the SPR could have been refilled at a lower price, but Biden decided against it.
The president should have refilled America’s oil; it was only $70 a barrel.
More from Reuters:
President Joe Biden's administration hopes to buy 6 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in December and January as it continues its plan to replenish the emergency stockpile, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday.
During a segment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” co-hosts Becky Quick and Joe Kernen expressed concerns that the US is experiencing low oil levels amid the Middle East being at war with Israel.
Quick stated, “No. And if you looked at oil prices three weeks ago, we were talking about how energy prices had come down 10% in ten days, WTI. And that was something we were watching really closely. It was to concern that there wasn’t going to be as much demand around the globe with a potential recession. … So, it turned very quickly.”
Kernen then asked, “If there was a real situation, how much do — we don’t have that much for the emergency — what it was designed for.”
Reuters added that,
Last year's 180 million barrel sale angered some Republicans who accused the administration of leaving the U.S. with the lowest level in the reserve in 40 years and a thin supply buffer to adequately respond to a future supply crisis. But Republicans in recent years had also called for big sales from the reserve as domestic U.S. oil output has soared thanks to fracking and other drilling techniques.