U. S. considers taming fuel price surge by emergency oil reserves

U. S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm has said the administration is facing a politically dangerous rise in gasoline prices, raising the prospect of releasing crude oil from the government’s strategic petroleum reserves.

The White House’s average price of gasoline in pumps has remained at $ 3.19 a gallon (the highest in seven years), so rising fuel costs could undermine political outlook ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

WTI is threatening $77 after US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm was asked about an SPR release and said “It’s a tool that’s under consideration” at an event.

She was also asked about a ban on U. S. crude exports and said “That’s a tool that we have not used, but it is a tool as well.”

Granholm also did not rule out a ban on crude oil exports. “This is a tool we’ve never used, but it’s also a tool,” she said before the Energy Transition Strategy Summit on Wednesday.

The last major release was in 2011, when the Obama administration worked with other members of the International Energy Agency to take advantage of emergency stocks and reduce soaring prices.