During portions of an interview with ABC News released on Friday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm argued that the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is “doing its job.” Because the point of the release “is to stabilize the global market” for oil and warned that gas prices will increase over the summer and gas prices will be “rough” “from now through the end of the year, really.”
Granholm stated, “The point of this — it’s doing its job. Because it is to stabilize the global market. I mean, we happen to have the largest tool of any country in terms of the volume of our strategic petroleum reserves.”
ABC News Correspondent Alex Presha then asked, “Do you feel like we’re close to that stabilization? Do you think things are still going to still continue to tick up?”
Granholm answered, “Well, we are starting the driving season, not just in the United States, but in other parts of the world, too. That means demand for oil products like gasoline goes up.”
She also said, “The driving season is beginning. There will be more demand for gasoline, more demand for oil. That will cause additional upward pressure, like it does every year, but now it’s on top of already high prices. So, this is going to be a rough — from now through the end of the year, really.”
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