US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he had ordered the use of 50 million barrels of US strategic oil reserves in a concerted effort with other countries to reduce rising fuel prices.

“(Quantitative) will be released on par with other energy consuming countries, including China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom,” the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. oil reserves, located in underground storage facilities in Texas and Louisiana, are the world’s largest supply of emergency oil.

A senior US administration official said his release would begin in late December, indicating that Washington was ready for further steps to restore market stability.

“As the president said, consumers are now going to face fuel problems,” the official said.

He continued, “The President is ready to take further action if necessary, and is ready to use his full powers in cooperation with the rest of the world to maintain adequate supplies by the time we begin to emerge from the epidemic crisis.”

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