President Joe Biden is about to announce another massive release of oil from U.S. emergency stockpiles as he ramps up efforts to cool crude prices that have fueled high inflation across the economy, three people familiar with the plan said.

The White House is expected to act on Thursday, which will mark third oil drain It has been announced since November and is probably the biggest.

The news immediately hit oil prices, which fell more than 4%.

A person familiar with the plan said final details were still being hammered out, but the release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was expected to last for months at 1 million barrels a day.

At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Biden will speak on “the actions his administration is taking to reduce the impact of the outbreak.” [Vladimir] According to the White House schedule, Putin has raised energy prices and lowered gasoline prices at U.S. home gas stations.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine, U.S. presidents have increasingly blamed their Russian counterparts for high inflation. hurt his approval rating And hurt the Democrats’ chances of maintaining control of Congress in the midterm elections.

The White House move also comes as Western countries tighten sanctions on Russia, the world’s largest oil exporter, including US ban The problem of Russian oil imports after the Ukrainian invasion.

The International Energy Agency, which monitors Western consumers, said this month that sanctions on Russia and a reluctance by shippers to load Russian crude could reduce the country’s output by as much as 3 million barrels a day, or about 3 percent of world output. to April.

“The government has extended [earlier stock releases] Given Russia’s huge oil supply disruption risk is not going away,” said Bob McNally, who advised former President George W. Bush and is now head of the Rapidan Energy Group, a consulting firm.

Oil prices soar since Putin ordered Ukraine invasion, international benchmark Brent hits 14-year high This month.

Crude oil prices fell in anticipation of the SPR announcement, with Brent down more than 4% to less than $109 a barrel and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate down a similar percentage to a barrel Just over $103.

oil price almost doubled Average gasoline prices have risen nearly 50% over the past year and have hit record highs in recent weeks.

The U.S. has also urged Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to increase the pace of supply, but the cartel has withstood the pressure to do so. Producer groups will meet on Thursday to decide their output policy.

SPR is a government-maintained emergency storage complex consisting of four underground sites in salt domes near the U.S. Gulf Coast. It currently holds 568 million barrels of crude oil, according to the Federal Energy Information Administration.

Biden announced his release from SPR in November, and the US joined the rest of the IEA last month Coordinate global releases.

The previous large stock release followed supply disruptions such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Libyan civil war in 2011.

The Energy Department declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Myles McCormick in New York