The additional fuel, expected to be delivered in December, would complete the 180-million-barrel drawdown that Biden first announced in March, read the release. The new announcement is expected Wednesday.

The White House added that the president is “committed to doing everything in his power to respond to Putin’s Price Hike at the pump,” and noted that gas prices had dropped at the fastest rate in over a decade this summer.

On Tuesday, AAA reported the national average gas price was $3.87, a jump from the average price recorded a month ago at $3.67.

According to a report from the Associated Press, a senior administration official said the release of additional barrels is in response to production cuts announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week, a move that Biden said would result in “consequences” for Saudi Arabia.

The announcement was condemned by several Republican lawmakers on Twitter, including Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith, who said the move is “jeopardizing” U.S. safety.

“He’s jeopardizing our security to avoid the obvious solution: more domestic energy production,” Griffith wrote.

GOP Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said the decision was “not only wrongheaded but a purely political maneuver” to “distract voters from the real issue – which is reduced energy production due to Biden’s own polices.”

Republican Arizona Representative Andy Biggs also called the release of additional barrels a “shameful” move by Biden, writing that the strategic reserve “is now being exploited for election purposes.”

According to the report from the Associated Press, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at its lowest level since 1984, in part due to Biden’s plan to release millions of barrels since March.

The White House announced in the press release Tuesday that Biden “intends to repurchase crude oil for the [reserve] when prices are at or below about $67-$72 per barrel” in efforts to replenish it. At the moment, the reserve contains around 400 million barrels, reported the Associated Press.

Biden also called upon oil companies to “pass through lower energy costs to consumers” in the release, claiming that the “outsized industry profit margins … have kept pump prices higher than they should be.”

During a press briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that there was “no shortage of opportunity or incentive for oil companies to ramp up production,” and said U.S. oil production is on track to reach a record high this year.

“In fact, the United States has produced more oil in President Biden’s first year than under the Trump administration’s first year,” Jean-Pierre added.

According to the Energy Information Administration, crude oil production is predicted to average around 11.7 million barrels per day by year’s end, jumping to 12.4 million daily next year. The forecast for next year would surpass the record high set in 2019 at 12.2 million barrels per day.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.

Update 10/18/22, 8:57 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.