Vice President JD Vance and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will meet Thursday with the oil industry as the White House looks for ways to address surging fuel prices.
U.S. governors and bipartisan leaders in Congress will also attend the meeting at the American Petroleum Institute in Washington. API is the lobby group that represents all the big U.S. oil and gas companies.
The attendees will discuss “supporting reliable energy supply amid global volatility,” a spokesperson for API told CNBC.
Vance said Wednesday that the White House will announce additional measures in the next 24 to 48 hours to address rising fuel prices.
“We’ve got a problem, we know we have a problem, and we’re doing everything we can to address it,” Vance said at an event in Auburn Hills, Michigan. “We’ve got a rough road ahead of us for the next few weeks, but it’s temporary.”
Diesel prices have topped $5 per gallon for the first time since 2022 as the Iran war has triggered the biggest oil supply disruption in history. Prices have increased about 35% since the U.S. and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic, according to data from travel association AAA.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. have jumped nearly 29% to $3.84 per gallon, on average.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a two-month waiver of the Jones Act in an effort to reduce rising costs. The Jones Act requires U.S. ships to transport goods between domestic ports. The waiver would allow foreign vessels to transport oil and other energy supplies in the U.S., potentially reducing transportation costs.
The U.S. will also release 172 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The action is part of a broader effort by more than 30 nations to inject 400 million barrels into the market.
