Biden Administration Will Release 1 Million Barrels of Gasoline

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it would sell off one million barrels of gasoline over the coming weeks from a strategic reserve in the Northeast, a move it said was designed to keep gasoline prices in check for consumers ahead of the July 4 holiday.

The sale of the government-owned stock was mandated by Congress in the spending bill it passed in March, and will culminate in the closure of the reserve, which has facilities in the New York Harbor area and Maine. The gasoline will be allocated in quantities of 100,000 barrels, which will be sold through a competitive bidding process, and was “structured to maximize its impact on gasoline prices” by timing it between Memorial Day and Independence Day, the Energy Department’s announcement said.

“The Biden-Harris administration is laser-focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,” Jennifer M. Granholm, the secretary of energy, said in the statement.

In practical terms, the move is unlikely to have a significant impact on gasoline prices, as even one million barrels — or around 42 million gallons — amounts to only a fraction of the total gasoline used in the United States, or even in the Northeast, in a single day.

Last year, the United States consumed around nine million barrels of gasoline a day on average, according to the Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions accounted for roughly 2.5 million barrels, according to an analysis by ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based research firm.

President Biden has, unprompted by Congress, fallen back on energy reserves in the past with an eye to bringing down prices at the pump.