(Adds comments in paragraph 3, repurchase plans in paragraph 4, file photos of SPR)
NEW YORK/HOUSTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will do what he can to ensure affordable gasoline prices, White House senior adviser John Podesta said at an industry conference on Tuesday, when asked about future releases of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The Biden administration in 2022 sold 180 million barrels of oil in about six months from the reserve, the largest ever SPR sale, in an attempt to lower gasoline prices after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Republicans slammed the sale, which in part pushed levels in the reserve to the
lowest in about 40 years
.
"The president did it (release oil from SPR) before ... and I think he wants to keep the price of gasoline affordable and he will do what he can to make sure that happens," Podesta said at the BNEF Summit in New York.
He stopped short of saying there would be a release from the SPR any time soon.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy this month
paused
its oil repurchase for the SPR due to high oil prices.
The Energy Department has previously said it aims to purchase oil for the SPR at a price of
$79 per barrel
or below, less than the average of about $95 it received for its 2022 emergency SPR sales.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New Yorkl; Editing by Franklin Paul, Liz Hampton and Nick Zieminski)
