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US won’t replenish its oil reserves with Russian oil – White House

The US administration has previously announced plans to resume purchases of oil to replenish its strategic reserve

WASHINGTON, December 6. /TASS/. The US authorities are not going to replenish their strategic oil reserve through the purchase of Russian oil in the context of limiting its price, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.

During a regular briefing, one of the journalists recalled that the US administration had previously said it was going to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under $70 a barrel.

The US and its allies set the so-called price cap for Russian oil at $60 per barrel. The journalist asked whether Washington is considering buying Russian oil to replenish national reserves.

"No, because it’s been banned (the import of Russian oil into the United States - TASS)," Jean-Pierre replied.

In March, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning energy imports from Russia and new investment in the Russian energy sector.

G7 countries, the EU and Australia previously agreed to impose a $60 per barrel price cap on offshore Russian oil for their vessels and territories from December 5.

According to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Moscow will not accept the cap on prices for Russian oil. According to him, the Kremlin will additionally report on how further work will be arranged.

In late of March, Biden announced that the United States would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from its strategic petroleum reserve for six months in order to reduce gasoline prices in the country. According to Reuters, due to the release of the largest volumes of oil in history, its strategic reserves in the United States in September fell to 434.1 million barrels, which was the lowest level since 1984. In October, Biden announced a decision to put up for sale another 15 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserve. As of November 25, oil volume in the reserve amounted to about 389 million barrels. At the same time, the US administration announced that it was ready to release additional volumes of oil from national reserves in the winter if necessary.