Trump, who was banned from Twitter and most social media platforms after inciting a crowd of supporters to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, issued a statement Thursday through his political action committee protesting the Biden administration’s plans. to release oil from the US. reserves an attempt to mitigate the high prices brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Joe Biden on Thursday approved the release of 1 million barrels of oil from US strategic oil reserves over the next six months as a “wartime bridge” to the expected higher domestic production. It is part of the Biden administration’s plan to combat rising energy prices as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the drop in supply caused by US sanctions. Americans have felt the pain in the pump as average gas prices have exceeded $ 4 per gallon, which coincided with rising prices in other sectors of the economy. Biden also criticized oil companies for refusing to increase production to make up for the shortfalls caused by the removal of Russian oil from US markets, saying it should be “a moment of patriotism” for domestic oil producers. Trump attacked his successor, saying he had created US oil reserves. “So, after 50 years of being almost empty, I increased our oil reserves during my tenure and low energy prices to 100%. It is called Strategic National Reserves and has not been full for many decades. “In fact, it was mostly empty,” he said. “It’s supposed to be used for a large-scale emergency or conflict. Now I see where Biden has just announced that he will take what we have built so carefully and magically, and what a futile attempt to reduce oil and gasoline prices. They will download it soon to empty it again. It just never ends! “ As Peter Baker of the New York Times noted, in January 2017, at the beginning of Mr. Trump’s term, the strategic oil stock was 695 million barrels. In January 2021, when Trump left power, it was 638 million barrels. In addition, Mr. Trump seems to have confused his terms. There is no such thing as a “strategic national stockpile” in the United States, although there is a “strategic national stockpile” of medical supplies maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Strategic Oil Reserve is one of the many national U.S. commodity reserves and consists of four locations along the Gulf of Mexico that can hold a total of 714 million barrels of crude oil. According to the Department of Energy, he owned 695 million barrels of crude oil the day Trump took office. Despite Mr. Trump’s claims that he had filled it, the reserve was never “empty” and had fewer barrels on the day he left office than on the day he was sworn in.
