US to release 40 percent of oil from strategic petroleum reserve

The U.S. will ​release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic ‌petroleum reserve in a bid to reduce oil prices that have soared due to supply shocks from the U.S.-Israeli war on ​Iran, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

According to him, the release is part of a broader ⁠release of 400 million barrels of oil agreed ​to by the 32-nation International Energy Agency earlier in the ​day.

Wright said the release will begin next week and will take about 120 days to deliver.

When asked earlier whether he was looking at the threshold for the ​strategic petroleum reserve, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington ​will "reduce ⁠it a little bit."

"The United States has arranged to more than replace these strategic reserves with approximately 200 million ⁠barrels ​within the next year," the U.S. ​energy secretary said.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently contains roughly 415 million barrels.