Amos Hochstein, the senior energy security adviser at the State Department, said opening the stock was among the means the administration had at its disposal and "will be available again" if required.
Hochstein spoke of it during an interview with CNBC on Monday, creating a contrast between the 32 million barrels to be made available under the Energy Department's exchange authority and the 18 million to be given to companies in an accelerated sale.
"Remember, this was not a 50 million barrel release; 30 million barrels were an exchange where companies and traders can take the oil now and return it over a scheduled period of time. That means the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be replenished," Hochstein said.
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"And therefore, we have more flexibility to be able to do this again in the future if the need arises," he added, saying the administration "wanted to do something that was impactful for the market and that also had the ability and the flexibility to allow us to do that again should the need arise for the American economy."
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The administration's report revealed a responsibility by six nations, including the United Kingdom, Japan, China, India, and South Korea, to release oil from their domestic stockpiles, a move directed at decreasing the United States's 50 million barrel pledge which is by far the largest among engaging nations. Japan will reportedly deliver about 4.2 million barrels, while the U.K. will make 1.5 million barrels open. India will sell 5 million barrels from its stockpile, while details about how much oil China and South Korea will offer are excellent.
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Oil prices rose on Monday, following the biggest one-day pullback since April last year late last week.
International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $74.60 a barrel on Monday, up more than 2.5% for the session, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $70.62, around 3.6% higher.
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Few countries published travel restrictions on Friday on news of the recently recognized omicron Covid variant. It inspired some energy market participants to fear a return of travel bans that could weaken fuel demand.
Analysts believe Monday’s rebound in oil prices shows last week’s drop may have been overdone, although it is not yet clear how demand will be affected.
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“We are living through a very fragile economic recovery and we needed to address what was an underlying factor that could threaten that recovery,” Hochstein said.
“That’s what we saw in the market last Tuesday with the U.S. moves and, quite frankly, that’s exactly what we also saw on Friday with the oil prices going down quite sharply because we are in this very fragile moment,” he added..
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