WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) Oil prices keep on increasing amid the Biden administration's announcement to release part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) because demand is still high and the market expected a bigger release from the United States, Branko Terzic, a former commissioner of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told Sputnik.
"Oil Prices continued to go up because demand for oil is still strong and increasing and the market anticipated a higher release from the US stockpile," Terzic said.
Earlier on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in concert with other major energy consuming nations, including China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, to stem surging oil prices.
"In the US, where every family has and needs more than one automobile, the politically important price is that of gasoline which on the East Coast is now near $4 per gallon," Terzic said. "Current prices nationally are 30% above last year. An increase of another 20% would be politically unacceptable to the consumer. The Biden administration and Democratic party congressional leaders will do whatever they can to avoid that gasoline price increase scenario."
The national average gas price dropped slightly on Tuesday from $3.409 to $3.403 per gallon, while the total monthly decrease reached almost 40 cents, according to the American Automobile Association. However, prices increased by more than $1 as compared to 2020.
Pump prices in the United States have increased sharply over the past year under the Biden administration's policy to gradually get away from fossil fuels and seek alternative sources of energy and have hit highs above $4.70 per gallon in California on Tuesday.
