U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan on Wednesday to sell off 15 million barrels of crude oil from the nation’s emergency supply and begin refilling the reserve as he tries to dampen high gasoline prices ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 8.
The move came two weeks after the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ organization rankled Biden by siding with Russia and agreeing to a production cut, raising fears a of a new spike in U.S. pump prices.