The United States and other nations would consider releasing more oil barrels from reserves if necessary, U.S. State Department senior adviser Amos Hochstein said this week.

The Biden administration is continuing to try to mitigate the surging cost of fuels following sanctions imposed by the United States and allies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Hochstein said, but added that it would not be easy to replace Russia’s crude exports.

The United States, in conjunction with other members of the International Energy Agency, agreed to sell 60 million barrels of crude in total to try to quell rising oil prices.

“If we need to do something again on a global basis with our allies, we will,” Hochstein said at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

Initially, the White House did not want to directly sanction Russian oil and gas exports, he noted, fearful that it would primarily punish global consumers. However, numerous buyers of Russian energy have self-sanctioned, avoiding purchasing those barrels “because there is such outrage in Europe about what is happening in Ukraine,” Hochstein said.

He estimated that about 3 million barrels of oil are now stranded as purchasers in Europe and elsewhere refuse to buy them. Source: Reuters (Reporting by David Gaffen; Editing by Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler)