The president’s plan has set up a showdown with Opec and risks triggering the opposite impact than desired – piling further pressure on American drivers.
Marc Kimsey, equity trader at Frederick & Oliver, says the 50m barrels being released by the US is just a fraction of the 20m it consumes every day.
“Biden’s move is pointless at best and, should he proceed with further draws, reckless at worst,” he says.
“It will fail to force the hand of Opec, who ultimately dictate prices. His provocation is more likely to result in the cartel holding firm on production.”
While potentially reckless, Biden is attempting to stem surging petrol prices that have in part arisen as the world recovers from the pandemic.
After travel and manufacturing plunged as much of the globe locked down, demand for Brent crude collapsed. The price per barrel hit a low of $21 in April.
But demand roared back as economies began to open up again, catching producers on the hop and squeezing supply.
This has helped the price bounce back, with Brent hitting a high of $84 last month before settling at around $80 – still higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Petrol prices are affected by the price of crude oil, as well as refining and distribution costs – and the US uses more of the fuel than any other country in the world.
Despite current concerns, petrol prices have been higher than they are now – they reached $4.11 in 2008, for instance.
But the recent big jump has opened the White House up to criticism that its big-spending policies, signed since Biden came into office in January, could be fueling the surge.
They include a $1.9 trillion rescue plan and a $1 trillion infrastructure investment and jobs act, while the Democrats are teeing up another $1.75 trillion package of social and climate programmes, known as “Build Back Better”.
Critics have argued that – combined with the Fed’s massive $100bn per month bond-buying programme – the huge spending is spurring on inflation and threatens to send prices soaring further.
Ronna McDaniel, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: “Biden’s Build Back Broke agenda… would pump trillions of dollars in reckless spending into the economy, further increasing prices and raising taxes on hard-working Americans.”
Such fears were further stoked by official figures this month showing US inflation climbed 6.2pc in the year to October – the largest jump in 31 years.
Meanwhile, Biden’s policies at home have also been blamed for the inability of American firms to compensate for the supply squeeze themselves.
Although the US remains the world’s biggest oil producer, firms are increasingly deciding not to invest profits in expanding production amid anger over the White House’s green energy policies.
