NPR

The U.S. emergency oil stash is in the spotlight as gas price surge. What to know

President Biden is looking at options to bring down high prices. One possibility attracting a lot of attention is releasing crude oil from the country's emergency reserves.
A customer prepares to pump gas into her car at a Shell station on Nov. 17 in San Rafael, Calif. A surge in gas prices this year is leaving the Biden administration looking for options to do something about it. One that's getting recent attention is tapping the country's emergency oil stockpile.

A recent surge in gasoline prices has left President Biden scrambling for options to do something about it.

One that's getting a lot of attention is the possibility that the Biden administration will release crude oil from the country's emergency oil stockpile, or the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Much will depend on oil prices, which have soared over the last year, recovering to their pre-pandemic levels and then some. But after rising to more than $86 in October, they have since dropped to less than

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