Sen. Reed urges Middle Eastern partners to help calm oil markets, stabilize oil prices, and deny Russia a revenue windfall from its illegal invasion of Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the White House announced a coordinated, multi-national plan to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves worldwide, including 30 million barrels from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and 30 million barrels from allies, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and other European partners, as well as Japan and South Korea.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who led calls for an SPR release, praised the plan as a needed step to help lower gas prices and counter the worldwide economic impact of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.  Reed, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also urged countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait to take additional measures to help calm markets and stabilize prices in the near term in order to deny Russia a revenue windfall from its illegal invasion.

Today, Senator Reed issued the following statement:

“I urged President Biden to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower fuel prices for American families and businesses, and I am pleased he is working with other world leaders to take responsible, effective, and coordinated action to help bring down the price of oil that has spiked due to Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine.

“Given the current global nature of the oil market, there is no single solution here.  But this is an important moment in the international response to Putin’s abhorrent attack.  Putin is banking on high oil and gas prices to destabilize allied resolve and boost his war chest.  The global community can’t let him get away with it.  I urge our partners in the Middle East to use economic tools at their disposal to help counter Russian aggression and provide a measure of certainty to global markets.  They can start by simply closing the significant gap between their stated oil production targets and actual output, which could be as high as 1 million barrels per day, according to the head of the International Energy Agency.

“Our Middle Eastern partners should help calm markets, stabilize oil prices, and deny Russia a major revenue windfall from its criminal invasion of Ukraine.”