Biden's Energy Coordinator Expects Gas Prices To Dip Toward $4 Per Gallon

"We already have many gas stations around the country that are below $4,” Amos Hochstein told CBS' "Face the Nation."
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A key Biden administration energy adviser said Sunday he expects U.S. gas prices to continue falling toward $4 per gallon.

“It’s not $5 anymore,” Amos Hochstein, a special presidential coordinator for international energy affairs, told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s now $4.55. And I expect it to come down more towards $4. And we already have many gas stations around the country that are below $4.”

The U.S. recorded 9.1% inflation in June, a four-decade peak, according to The Associated Press. Gas prices, though, have eased since the record $5 per gallon reached in mid-June.

Hochstein said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine created “extraordinary circumstances” for the U.S. and other big energy-consuming countries.

“This is the fastest decline rate that we’ve seen against a major increase of oil prices during a war in Europe where one of the parties in the war is the third-largest producer in the world,” Hochstein said. “So, these are extraordinary circumstances. We’ve taken very tough measures to address them right away.”

In March, over a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Joe Biden ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset high gas prices. At the time, the White House said this would last as long as 180 days — toward the end of September.

Hochstein, however, said the releases would continue until the end of the year. By then, the White House hopes the oil industry will boost production by 1 million barrels per day.

“My expectation is that the private sector in the U.S. will have those increases coming so we don’t need to have the emergency from the U.S. government,” Hochstein told CBS’ Margaret Brennan. “In the meantime, we’ve seen the prices ― both the oil price, but also the price at the pump, has come down at the fastest rate that we have seen in over a decade.”

Hochstein’s interview follows Biden’s trip to the Middle East, including a stop in Saudi Arabia that was heavily criticized over the kingdom’s appalling human rights record, including the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudis did not, however, commit to boosting oil supply.

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