Biden released a process in which he will supposedly lower the oil prices that have spiked. Now that people are starting to go outside more, oil prices have become higher because the demand of oil is higher in the U.S. The problem is that The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been slow about oil production in fear of the pandemic striking the economy again.
The President’s plan includes two different steps. The first is to investigate gas price gouging, and the second is to take oil out of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The issue with this is that this is not a permanent solution and is as good as a band-aid is on a gun wound.
According to The Financial Times, the gas that has been released from the reserves is only enough to last 2.5 days. This is obviously not enough to substantially effect the industry and the prices in the way that Biden makes it sound.
The Washington Post published an article recently that slams Biden’s poor attempt at fixing high oil prices and has gained a lot of traction in the media. According to that post, gas prices actually rose when oil from the reserves was distributed. And on top of that, OPEC might retaliate in the future now, which could increase prices.
Gas prices have been a very popular topic. Especially living on the West Coast, oil prices can be a very big part of your budget. Not to mention the impact that this has on college students and the commute they have to make now that classes are in-person again. There should be more done than this two-step plan to try and solve the issue of higher gas prices.