American President Joe Biden has ordered the Department of Energy to release 50 million barrels (159 liters) of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

He is reacting to the high gasoline and heating oil prices, which have led to growing dissatisfaction among the population.

The price of gasoline has risen to $ 3.40 a gallon or 90 dollar cents per liter in a year.

Winand von Petersdorff-Campen

Business correspondent in Washington.

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Democratic politicians had previously asked Biden in a letter not only to tap into the national reserve, but also to stop crude oil exports.

But the White House could not bring itself to do this.

Biden had previously tried in vain to urge OPEC and Russia to increase their production in order to enable price reductions.

At the same time, he asked the FTC to review the pricing policies of large oil companies for usury.

Japan and India are participating

The high prices fuel the high inflation of more than 6 percent, which many Americans now attribute to Biden's policies.

Its advance shortly before the American Thanksgiving festival has been coordinated with other countries.

According to media reports, the president has asked China, Japan, India and South Korea to consider releasing national oil reserves.

Japan and India are apparently ready to do so, and China is apparently also considering supporting the advance from America.

The American reserves will gradually be released into the market over the next few months and replaced in the following years.

The sale of 18 million of the 50 million barrels had already been approved by Congress.

The price effect of the measure is unclear.

According to estimates by the Energy Information Administration, American producers currently mine around 11 million barrels a day.

The release quantity thus roughly corresponds to the production that is achieved within five days.

The American export volume of crude oil and petroleum products is around 8.5 million barrels a day, while the import volume is just below that at 7.8 million barrels. Besides Canada and Mexico, the Americans' most important customers include China, Japan and India.