By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down Wednesday morning in Asia, with the . The U.S. President Joe Biden is under pressure to reduce rising gasoline prices by releasing oil from its emergency reserves.

At 10:56 ET, the price of $81.77 was down 0.80% (or 3:56 GMT), and $79.13 fell by 0.76%.

Biden is debating whether or not to withdraw supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This was especially important considering that gasoline prices reached a record-breaking high in California this week.

The necessity of this move is still debated.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday that he disagreed with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call on Sunday for tapping the SPR to lower gas prices, arguing that the SPR’s purpose is to fill a supply gap in an emergency.

Investors also argued that an SPR release would have a temporary effect and that OPEC or U.S. shale oil producers would provide more supply.

Edward Moya, OANDA analyst said that the market seems to believe that the U.S. should tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve even though it would bring no benefits to consumers.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s showed a build of 655,000 barrels for the week ended Nov. 9, less than the 1.55-million- barrels build in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the 2.485-million-barrel draw reported during the previous week.

Investors await the announcement, expected later today.