After OPEC+ announced on Wednesday it would cut oil production to boost sagging oil prices, the White House said it would look at ways to boost domestic production.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he was "disappointed," and there are “a lot of alternatives” to lower prices. He said no decisions have been made.
OPEC+ said it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day on the market. OPEC+ comprises of 13 major oil-producing nations plus several other non-member nations that participate in the group’s policy objectives.
The U.S. gets about 11% of its oil from these nations, but much of the world relies on oil produced by OPEC+ nations.
Generally, gas prices are dictated by the supply and demand of crude oil. When the oil supply is reduced, gas prices generally go up. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said OPEC+’s decision is a “mistake.”
“It's no secret that the president believes that energy supply should meet energy demand and that it is important for the global economy as it faces global challenge,” she said.
As gas prices surged in the spring and early summer, the White House announced it would release 1 million barrels of oil daily from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The release was the largest ever from the reserve and brought the amount of oil in storage down to its lowest level in more than three decades after the government sold 180 million barrels to the open market.
Jean-Pierre said it is also up to domestic oil producers to bring down the cost of oil as the U.S. has ramped up oil production in recent years.
In the middle of 2002, the U.S. produced about 5.8 million barrels of oil per day. A decade later, that figure increased to about 6.2 million barrels. Now, the U.S. produces over 11 million barrels a day.