Reuters: White House Mulling Oil Reserve Release

The White House is considering plans to release emergency oil reserves in order to ease energy costs and to prevent high oil prices from threatening the effectiveness of its current sanctions on Iran, Reuters reported Friday.

An unnamed source tells the news outlet that the Obama administration is "dusting off old plans" for a potential release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and other international stockpiles. A decision appears unlikely to come for at least a few weeks, during which energy officials will monitor the situation as they await the price drop that traditionally comes after Labor Day weekend.

The potential release's size hasn't been reported, and the administration hasn't yet talked to other countries about collaboratively releasing reserves (which is likely the next step the United States would take). International Energy Agency members Britain, France, Germany, and other countries, however, have previously been open to such a release in similar conditions. 

The IEA had previously considered a spring release of reserves but dropped the plan once oil prices lowered. Read the full story at Reuters.