The White House announced on Tuesday that it was releasing 30 million barrels of crude oil from the country’s petroleum reserves in an effort to stabilize global energy markets that were rocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) member states agreed to collectively release 60 million barrels of crude oil from strategic petroleum reserves.
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“As part of this agreement, President Biden will authorize the Department of Energy to release 30 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement is another example of partners around the world condemning Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine and working together to address the impact of President Putin’s war of choice,” Psaki said.
IEA members also agreed to continue monitoring energy markets and consider more releases “as necessary,” she added.
Fears have been mounting over the sanctions slapped on Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, which supply a significant portion of the world, specifically Europe, with energy.
Psaki said the US and its allies were prepared to “use every tool available” to limit any disruption to the global energy supply. “We will also continue our efforts to accelerate the diversification of energy supplies away from Russia and to secure the world from Moscow’s weaponization of oil and gas,” she said.
In coordination with Germany, the US killed off the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as part of the initial sanctions on Russia.
The $11 billion underwater pipeline would have seen Russian gas transported to Germany.
Read more: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy tells Russia: Stop bombing before ceasefire talks can start
