Biden to complete oil release from emergency reserves and announce he could go further if needed

The move completes Biden’s March directive to release 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The national average pump price for a gallon of gas has significantly dropped since summer but has ticked up since September. The move comes about two weeks after OPEC and its oil-exporting allies announced it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day to boost prices. The final 15 million barrels of oil that will be added to the market in December is less than one full day’s use of oil in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. The last major release of the oil reserve came in 2011, when President Barack Obama released 30 million barrel of oil to counter disruptions in supply due to civil unrest in Libya and other events. . . .