• The U.S. and other nations have embargoed imports of Russian oil and gas
The U.S. will release one million barrels of oil per day from its Strategic petroleum Reserves to reduce the impact of surging gas prices amid Russia's attack on Ukraine for the next six months.
"Today I'm authorizing the release of one million barrels per day for the next six months – over 180 million barrels," President Joe Biden told reporters from the White House on Thursday afternoon.
"This is a wartime bridge to increase oil supply until production ramps up later this year. And it is by far the largest release from our national reserve in our history," he added
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"The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time. This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up," the White House said.
The U.S. and other nations have embargoed imports of Russian oil and gas over the country's ongoing invasion of its neighbor. The European Union hasn't followed suit but has pledged to gradually cut itself off Moscow's energy supplies.
Also read: Poland to cut down Russian oil imports by end of 2022
Oil prices fell after the reports of the President's move surfaced. For May, the international benchmark Brent crude futures fell 4% to trade at $108.89 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slid 4.7% to $102.84. Earlier in the session the contract traded as low as $100.16.
With inputs from CNBC