The Biden administration continues to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve of emergency oil barrels in an effort to curb gas prices.

The White House announced Tuesday that the Department of Energy will be ordering the release of an additional 20 million barrels for sale.

The DOE said the following in a statement:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced an additional Notice of Sale of up to 20 million additional barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This Notice of Sale is part of President Biden’s announcement on March 31, 2022 authorizing the sale of crude oil from the SPR to address the significant market supply disruption caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine and help lower energy costs for American families.

The President’s announcement called to release one million barrels of SPR crude oil per day over six months. This historic release of SPR crude has provided a record amount of crude oil supply to the U.S. economy and will continue until the end of October 2022.

DOE plans to release, from the SPR, up to 2.8 million barrels of sour crude oil and 17.2 million barrels of sweet crude oil, totaling 20 million barrels with deliveries from September 16 until October 21, 2022. DOE must receive bids for this notice no later than 10:00 a.m. Central Time on August 2, 2022. Contracts will be awarded to successful offerors no later than August 11, 2022.

Although the original intention of the SPR is to save a certain amount of oil in case of a natural disaster or an attack on the homeland, the administration has decided this was a better solution than simply drilling for more oil on American soil.

“This is the FIFTH TIME Biden has sold oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Instead of dipping into emergency reserves, Biden should empower American workers & unleash American energy. We are ready, willing and more than able,” Rep. Pete Sauber (R-Minn.) tweeted Tuesday.

This is the FIFTH TIME Biden has sold oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Instead of dipping into emergency reserves, Biden should empower American workers & unleash American energy. We are ready, willing and more than able. https://t.co/55dJp7qGDG

— Pete Stauber (@RepPeteStauber) July 26, 2022

There are also questions surrounding where the oil is being sold after it is released from the SPR. RedState’s Bob Hoge reported that the House Republicans are investigating if the United States is exporting some of these barrels to China. According to RedState’s Nick Arama, earlier in July, 950,000 barrels went to Unipec, which is part of the Chinese-government-owned China Petrochemical Corporation. While it may be a small amount in comparison, it’s concerning as a matter of principle that this would even be a possibility.

The White House stated Tuesday that 125 million barrels had “already been sold.”