Biden set to go to the mat with Big Oil over gas prices

The White House is intensifying a pressure campaign against the oil industry over rebounding gas prices as it tries to contain the political fallout of rising fuel costs just ahead of the midterms.

Top Biden administration officials in recent weeks have publicly warned companies against inflating prices. In private, their message has been even more direct. They’ve aired complaints to executives over their ballooning profits and threatened drastic new restrictions — such as limits on companies’ fuel exports — if the industry refuses to help ease the price at the pump, according to people familiar with those discussions.

Biden will deliver a speech Wednesday about gas prices, his chief of staff Ron Klain said in a tweet. The administration is authorizing releasing more oil from the administration’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve — continuing a months-long pattern aimed at heading off even more significant price increases.