Biden Administration Has Not Ruled Out Curbs on Exports to Ease Fuel Prices

U.S. President Joe Biden has not ruled out using export restrictions to ease soaring domestic fuel prices, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Tuesday.

Asked if the United States was considering restricting petroleum exports to ease fuel prices, Granholm said “I can confirm the president is not taking any tools off the table.”

Granholm was speaking to reporters during a tour of the Bayou Choctaw salt dome, part of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve system where emergency stockpiles of crude oil are stored.

The Biden administration has been struggling to combat surging inflation, including record pump prices, driven by rising demand since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and supply disruptions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The rising costs are seen as a major vulnerability to Biden's fellow Democrats leading into the November midterm elections.

So far, the administration has announced record-sized releases of crude oil from the SPR over the coming months, and is mulling other options, including a release from emergency diesel stockpiles and the lifting of anti-smog regulations on gasoline to make the fuel more available.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba in Bayou Choctaw, Louisiana; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)