Donald Trump slams Joe Biden's decision to release oil from US reserves to lower prices

President Joe Biden's decision to release barrels of oil from the country's strategic reserves was lambasted by former US President Donald Trump on November 23, Tuesday, who warned that Washington will now be at the mercy of OPEC. Biden had previously announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in collaboration with other energy-consuming nations such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom on Tuesday.

"Now I understand that Joe Biden will be announcing an 'attack' on the newly brimming Strategic Oil Reserves so that he could get the close to record-setting high oil prices artificially lowered. We were energy independent one year ago, now we are at the mercy of OPEC, gasoline is selling for $ 7 in parts of California, going up all over the country, and they are taking oil from our Strategic Reserves. Is this any way to run a Country? " Trump said in a statement, according to ANI.

Trump recalled that the US Strategic Oil Reserves had been low or almost empty for decades. When oil prices were very low three years ago, I filled them to the brim. Those reserves are only supposed to be used in the event of a major emergency, such as a war, Trump stated his opinion, ANI reported. 

India to release 5mn barrels of crude oil from SPR

On Tuesday, the US and five other world countries announced a joint effort to dip into their national oil reserves in an attempt to lower increasing gas prices that have enraged consumers around the world. Following Biden's declaration, India announced that it would release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves in collaboration with other countries in order to cut prices. In order to stabilise prices, South Korea stated it would sell a portion of its oil inventories from its strategic reserves, as suggested by the US. The UK also declared that 1.5 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves would be released. Meanwhile, allegations have surfaced that the Japanese government wants to release enough oil from its strategic stocks to last many days, in collaboration with a number of countries to lower prices.

Oil traders appeared to be disappointed by the move, as they had expected President Biden to announce a larger release from America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which holds 620 million barrels and is the world's largest. In worldwide trading, the price of a barrel of crude oil surged after the announcement, however, administration officials claimed that prices could decline in the coming weeks. The United States will withdraw 50 million barrels from the SPR. Of that total, 32 million barrels will be exchanged over the following few months, while 18 million barrels will be sold sooner than planned.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: AP