President Donald Trump will decide whether the U.S. participates in the historic release of oil reserves by the International Energy Agency to address the supply disruption triggered by the Iran war, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNBC on Wednesday.
“I think what you’re hearing out of the IEA today is reasonable on their part, but clearly whether the U.S. participates is up to President Trump, he’ll make the final decision on that,” Burgum said in an interview on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
Trump said later Wednesday that he will tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower energy costs.
“We’ll do that, and then we’ll fill it up,” Trump said in an interview with Cincinnati broadcaster WKRC.
“I filled it up once, and I’ll fill it up again, but right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” the president said.
IEA members agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of stockpiled oil in response to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It is the largest such action taken by organization in its more than 50 year history.
The IEA is a group of 32 advanced economies primarily in Europe, North America and northeast Asia. The U.S. is a member of the organization. The IEA is tasked with maintaining global energy security.
The U.S. currently has 415 million barrels stockpiled in its reserve, according to the Department of Energy. The stocks are about 58% of the SPR’s current authorized capacity of 714 million barrels.
Trump is not obligated to participate in the IEA’s release of reserves, said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group. “He can decline or chip in a contribution,” said McNally, a former White House energy advisor to President George W. Bush.
