(Reuters) – President Joe Biden has the final say on whether or not the United States taps its emergency oil supply to help lower crude prices. A senior Department of Energy official said Thursday to reporters.

When asked whether the government was planning to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (or SPR), the official replied, “We’re reviewing all options, but at the end-of-the day, the president will decide what we do.”

On Thursday, the White House criticized top oil producers’ decision to continue to increase output slowly even though demand is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The price of a barrel fell by 1% Thursday to $81.17 per barrel after a report said that Saudi Arabia’s oil output would surpass 10,000,000 barrels per day, the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.

The OPEC+ Production Group agreed that crude production would be increased by 400,000 bpd per month. Prices rose earlier.

A spokesperson from the White House National Security Council stated that OPEC+ “seems unwilling to use its capacity and power now at this crucial moment of global recovery.

Jennifer Granholm (energy secretary) stated on October 28th that U.S. retail gasoline price were expected to fall to around $3.00/gallon by December. This is a drop of about $3.40.

On a live conference with the DOE, the official stated that they would keep pressing oil producers to produce more. We’re certain to talk with them about this.”

The official was asked by a reporter if they were planning to tap global emergency supplies together with oil-consuming countries. He stated that the most important thing was to communicate to oil producers about the effects of rising oil prices and the resulting shortages.