The Obama administration is monitoring oil markets and a release from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve remains “an option that is on the table” if prices rise or supply is disrupted, said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman.
“The administration does carefully monitor the global oil market” because of its impact on the economy, Earnest said at a briefing today. No decision has been made and he refused to say whether there is active discussion about the reserve.
“In terms of how that decision’s going to get made or whether it’s going — made or what’s going to factor into that decision, I’m not able to shed any light on that,” he said.
The administration discussed planning for using the reserve earlier this year when the average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. increased to almost $4 a gallon and the European Union prepared to impose a ban on Iranian oil imports.
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