U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 11th (local time) that he would release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to counter rising energy prices due to ongoing joint military operations between the United States and Israel in Iran.

According to Google Finance, Brent crude oil closed at $93.05 a barrel in after-hours trading on Wednesday, about 1.16% higher than its opening price of $91.98. It continued to rise on Thursday morning, exceeding $93.55 a barrel.

Oil prices have seen sharp fluctuations since the start of "Operation Epic Fury," soaring to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday the 9th.

Speaking to WKRC-TV in Cincinnati during a visit to Thermo Fisher Scientific, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, President Trump said, "Okay, and then we will fill it up." He added, "We filled it up once, and we're going to fill it up again, but for now, we'll take a little bit out and bring the price down."

President Trump's remarks came after the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Wednesday that member countries would release a record 400 million barrels of emergency oil reserves to lower crude oil prices that have surged since the escalation of the situation in Iran.

This release is more than double the previous record release of 182 million barrels in 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, by IEA member countries.

A Fortune report on Monday stated that former President Joe Biden released about 300 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during his tenure to curb rising oil prices, including about 180 million barrels in the six months of 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Biden's actions reduced the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to about 350 million barrels, the lowest level since 1983, while President Trump maintained the reserve at about 638 million barrels at the end of his first term.

In March 2020, during President Trump's first term, when oil prices plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he instructed the Department of Energy to purchase 77 million barrels to "fill up the storage," but the Democrat-led Congress blocked funding for the purchase.

On Wednesday the 11th, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that President Trump had approved the release of 172 million barrels over approximately 120 days, with the release scheduled to begin next week.

President Trump had pledged to refill the reserves by declaring a "national energy emergency" in early 2025, but due to limited budget support from Congress, the reserves have only increased by about 5% since his inauguration.

According to Fortune, the current crude oil reserves are approximately 416 million barrels.

President Trump told reporters at Thermo Fisher Scientific before departing for Kentucky, "The price of oil will come down."

He added, "That's what war is, that's what happens... it's almost predictable." He continued, "The rise was a little less than expected, and the fall will be much greater than anyone expected."

By Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter, NNP / Special Contribution NNP info@newsandpost.com