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U.S. President Biden has announced that he will release the largest oil reserve in history as international oil prices soar due to the Ukraine crisis.
International oil prices plummeted as a result of the US action.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.
[ Reporter
] President Biden has made it clear that Putin is responsible for the surge in oil prices.
[Joe Biden/President of the United States: Oil prices are rising because of Putin's actions.
The current supply is insufficient.
The bottom line is that if we want the oil price to stabilize, we need to increase the supply right away.]
At the same time, we decided to release about 180 million barrels per day, 1 million barrels per day for the next six months.
It was the largest ever, and President Biden said it was a wartime emergency measure.
President Biden said that US refiners are only taking advantage of the current situation to make a profit, and that he will increase production by the end of the year, even if it imposes fines on companies.
However, OPEC Plus, a consultative group between OPEC and Russia and other non-OPEC oil producing countries, reached an agreement to increase production by 400,000 barrels a day, despite pressure from the West to increase production.
In the midst of this, Russia is changing its policy to only use rubles when purchasing its own gas, showing signs of escalating into a resource war.
Today (1st), New York oil prices plunged, with West Texas crude oil dropping 7% per barrel on the announcement of the release of the largest oil reserves in U.S. history.