(Bloomberg) -- If the Biden Administration decides to tap U.S. emergency crude reserves to push down domestic energy prices, it may not help all that much. The supplies may just be exported away like last month.
About 1.6 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- a monthly record -- was shipped out in October, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler. Three cargoes were loaded onto a supertanker in the U.S. Gulf Coast and are headed to Asia.
“Given the ongoing pace of the current SPR release -- 12 million barrels in the last two months and the biggest weekly release so far last week at 3.1 million barrels -- it's fair to assume more SPR barrels are going to leave U.S. shores in the weeks ahead,” said Matt Smith, an oil analyst at Kpler.
The White House has been mulling a range of options to ease soaring pump prices and Democrats are pressing for a potential ban on oil exports as well as the release of crude from the nation's strategic reserves.
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