The White House said in a statement that the release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was “unprecedented.”
The US will release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from its reserves for six months, a historic drawdown that underscores White House concern about rising gas prices and supply shortages following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden also will invoke Cold War powers to encourage domestic production of critical minerals for batteries for electric-vehicles and other uses, the White House said. Battery materials will join the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act.
