Biden releases oil from US reserve

He says 15 million barrels of oil will be offered from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), part of a record 180 million-barrel release that began in May, and added the United States was ready to tap reserves again early next year to rein in prices.

Biden's use of the federal government's reserve to manage oil price spikes and attempts to increase US production underscore how the Ukraine crisis and inflation have changed the policies of a president who came into office vowing to cut US dependence on the fossil fuel industry.

The White House had an added sense of urgency after the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ rankled Biden by siding with Russia and agreeing to a production cut, prompting the president to declare that the US-Saudi relationship needs a revaluation.

"With my announcement today, we're going to continue to stabilise markets and decrease the prices at a time when the actions of other countries have caused such volatility," Biden said at a White House event on Wednesday.

Biden blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine for higher crude and petrol prices, while noting prices had fallen 30 per cent from their peak earlier this year.

He also repeated a plea to US energy companies, petrol retailers and refiners, asking them to stop using record-breaking profits to buy back stock, and to invest in production instead.

Prices "are not falling fast enough", he said. "Families are hurting."

The president, facing criticism from Republicans who charge he is tapping the SPR for political reasons and not because there is an emergency, also said he would refill the nation's stockpiles in the upcoming years.

He said his aim would be to replenish stocks when US crude was about $US70 a barrel. The US benchmark was about $US85 on Wednesday.

The SPR, which is at its lowest levels since 1984, was more than half full with more than 400 million barrels of oil, Biden said, "more than enough for any emergency drawdown".

Australian Associated Press