2026年3月20日 / 美国东部时间下午3:14 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者
梅根·塞鲁洛（Megan Cerullo）
记者，MoneyWatch栏目
梅根·塞鲁洛是哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）MoneyWatch的驻纽约记者，报道小企业、职场、医疗保健、消费者支出和个人理财等领域。她经常出现在哥伦比亚广播公司24/7新闻频道讨论其报道内容。
完整简介
更新时间：2026年3月20日 / 美国东部时间下午3:14 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
尽管特朗普政府在伊朗战争扩大之际正动用多种手段抑制能源成本，但周五美国普通汽油价格接近每加仑4美元，引发了人们对这些努力是否有效的质疑。
专家表示，降低油价最有效的措施是重新开放霍尔木兹海峡——这条至关重要的波斯湾水道处理着全球约20%的石油和天然气供应。随着该地区暴力升级，海峡实际上已关闭，航运近乎停滞。
与此同时，国际基准布伦特原油价格约为每桶108美元，自战争开始以来上涨了48%。特朗普政府的策略包括动用战略石油储备（SPR）和放松推高石油产品成本的政府监管。
哈佛商学院管理学教授、能源市场专家威利·施（Willy Shih）告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：“根本问题在于，他们所做的一切都是为了‘如何抵消世界20%的供应被切断的影响？’”
白宫未立即回应置评请求。
以下是专家对各种抑制能源价格措施的评价：
动用战略石油储备（SPR）
特朗普总统于3月11日下令从美国战略石油储备中释放1.72亿桶石油，当时布伦特原油价格已达每桶92美元。此次石油释放本周开始，将在120天内逐步实施。
战略石油储备始建于20世纪70年代，旨在为能源中断（如自然灾害对炼油厂的打击）提供经济缓冲。
此次释放规模仅次于2022年拜登政府释放的1.8亿桶，是该储备历史上第二大释放量。拜登当时为应对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰及疫情持续通胀，动用了战略石油储备，导致美国汽油价格飙升至平均每加仑5美元以上。
全球政治风险研究公司欧亚集团（Eurasia Group）业务主管克莱顿·艾伦（Clayton Allen）告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：“特朗普政府的战略石油储备释放规模太小，无法抵消伊朗战争对能源供应的影响。”
国际能源署（IEA）估计，自伊朗冲突爆发以来，海湾国家已削减石油日产量1000万桶。战前，每天约有2000万桶石油通过霍尔木兹海峡运输。
GasBuddy石油分析师帕特里克·德汉（Patrick De Haan）补充道：“这一释放几乎不会产生影响，就像试图用吸管替换主水管一样。”
释放战略石油储备还存在时间限制。艾伦指出，美国最快曾以每天100万桶的速度消耗储备，而特朗普政府正试图达到每天140万桶的目标。
“这其中存在物理限制，”他表示，“所以美国石油不会像人们预期的那样迅速进入市场。”
艾伦强调：“如果人们期望这能突然将汽油价格拉回3.50美元，那并不现实。”
豁免《琼斯法案》
特朗普周三下令暂时豁免《琼斯法案》60天。该法案是一项近百年的法律，要求美国港口间运输的货物必须使用美国建造、悬挂美国国旗并由美国船员驾驶的船舶。
暂时暂停该法案将允许外国船只在美国港口间运输燃料，可能增加当地供应并降低加油站价格。美国进步中心（Center for American Progress）的最新分析估计，豁免该法案可使汽油价格每加仑降低3美分。
哈佛学者施表示：“这措施太少、太滞后，无法抑制油气价格。在全球20%供应中断的情况下，这只是杯水车薪。”
解除俄罗斯石油制裁
3月12日，美国宣布将临时批准购买已装载在出海船舶上的俄罗斯石油。财政部长斯科特·贝森特（Scott Bessent）表示，为期一个月的豁免“不会给俄罗斯政府带来重大财务收益”。
专家认为，解除对俄罗斯的制裁对美国驾车者的实际帮助尚不明确。原因是目前全球仅有约1.24亿桶俄罗斯石油在海上，相当于霍尔木兹海峡正常运输6天的量，或略超过全球日均消费1.01亿桶的一天用量。
若没有这些措施，油价会涨得更高吗？
本月油价曾几次接近每桶120美元，但目前仍低于这一水平。
欧亚集团的艾伦告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻：“特朗普政府的行动阻止了油价进一步飙升。”
“这是否算成功取决于如何定义成功，而价格影响的大小取决于战争持续时间，”他补充道。
其他考虑中的措施
特朗普政府正考虑更多抑制能源价格的措施：
- 允许伊朗石油运输：财政部长贝森特称，约1.4亿桶伊朗石油已在海上，相当于10-14天的供应量，若放行可缓解供应压力。
- 临时豁免E15燃油销售禁令：美国可能在6月1日至9月15日期间豁免加油站禁售E15混合燃料的规定，此举可能增加燃料供应。
- 地方汽油税减免：佐治亚州众议院已通过暂停60天州级33美分/加仑汽油税的法案，康涅狄格、马里兰和宾夕法尼亚州也在考虑类似措施。
- 施压盟友确保霍尔木兹海峡安全通航：美英、法、德、意、荷、日六国周四承诺“准备参与确保海峡安全通行的适当努力”，但未给出具体措施。
加州大学圣地亚哥分校公共政策教授、能源专家大卫·维克多（David Victor）表示：“短期内除了现有措施，别无他法。一旦海峡重新开放，市场将立即产生巨大降价和流动性改善效果。”
编辑：阿兰·谢特（Alain Sherter）
分类：石油与天然气
Here’s what the Trump administration is doing to lower oil and gas prices. Is it working?
March 20, 2026 / 3:14 PM EDT / CBS News
By
Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.
Read Full Bio
Updated on: March 20, 2026 / 3:14 PM EDT / CBS News
Although the Trump administration is pulling multiple levers to tame energy costs amid the widening Iran war, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. on Friday neared $4 a gallon, raising questions about whether those efforts are working.
The most effective measure for bringing down oil prices would be to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Persian Gulf waterway that handles some 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies, according to experts. The strait remains effectively closed as violence in the region escalates. bringing shipping traffic to a near-halt.
In the meantime, the U.S. is turning to other options to counter rising oil prices, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, at about $108 a barrel, a 48% surge since the start of the war. The Trump administration’s strategies range from tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to easing government regulations that boost the cost of petroleum products.
“The fundamental problem is that all these things they’re doing are measures to, ‘How do I counteract having taken 20% of the world’s supply off the market?’,” Willy Shih, professor of management at Harvard Business School and energy market expert, told CBS News.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here’s what experts said about the various measures to keep a lid on energy prices.
Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
President Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) on March 11, when Brent crude had reached $92 a barrel. The oil release began this week and will roll out over 120 days.
The SPR was created in the 1970s to provide an economic cushion against energy disruptions, such as a hit to oil refineries from a natural disaster.
The release marks the second-largest in the reserve’s history after former President Joe Biden’s move in 2022 to withdraw 180 million barrels. Mr. Biden had tapped the SPR to counter the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of that year, along with lingering inflation from the pandemic. Those twin crises had led to U.S. gas prices surging to an average of more than $5 a gallon.
The Trump administration’s SPR release is far too small to counter the Iran war’s impact on energy supplies, Clayton Allen, a practice head at the global political risk research firm Eurasia Group, told CBS News.
The International Energy Agency estimates that Gulf countries have cut oil production by 10 million barrels per day due to supply constraints since the outbreak of hostilities in Iran. Before the war, about 20 million barrels of oil traveled through the Strait of Hormuz each day.
“The release won’t have much impact at all,” added Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, which tracks gas prices around the U.S. “It’s kind of like trying to replace a water main with a straw.”
Releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve also takes time. The fastest the U.S. has been able to draw down supplies from the reserve is 1 million barrels a day, although the Trump administration is aiming for 1.4 million barrels a day, Allen noted.
“There are physical constraints on their ability to do that,” he said. “So U.S. oil is not going to reach the market as quickly as people expect.”
Allen added, “If people are expecting this to suddenly take us back to $3.50 gasoline, that’s not really realistic.”
Waiving the Jones Act
Mr. Trump on Wednesday ordered a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, a roughly 100-year-old law that requires goods shipped between American ports to be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, -flagged and -crewed.
Temporarily suspending the law will allow foreign ships to move fuel between U.S. ports, potentially boosting local supply and reducing prices at the pump. A recent analysis from the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute, estimates that waiving the law would reduce gas prices by 3 cents per gallon.
The waiver is “too little, too late” to help keep a lid on oil and gas prices, Harvard’s Shih told CBS News, adding that “It is a drop in the bucket in terms of influencing prices when you’ve taken 20% of the global supply offline.”
Lifting Russian oil sanctions
On March 12, the U.S. said it would temporarily approve the purchase of Russian oil that’s already loaded on ships that have put out to sea. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the one-month waiver “will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.”
It’s unclear whether lifting those sanctions on Russia will do much to benefit U.S. motorists according to experts. The reason: There are only about 124 million barrels of Russian oil currently at sea globally. That’s equal to about six days’ worth of normal shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, or slightly more than one day’s worth of global consumption of about 101 million barrels per day.
Would oil prices have moved higher without these measures?
Oil has brushed up against $120 a barrel a few times this month, but for now remains below that threshold.
Allen of Eurasia Group told CBS News that the Trump administration’s actions are preventing oil from surging higher.
“Is that a success? It depends on how you define success, and really, the determination of how big the price impacts are going to be is how long this war continues,” he said.
Other options under consideration
The Trump administration is considering taking additional steps to tamp down energy prices, with Bessent telling Fox Business on Thursday that it may “unsanction” Iranian oil that’s already on the water.
“It’s about 140 million barrels, depending on how you count — that’s 10 days to two weeks of supply, that the Iranians had been pushing out, that would have all gone to China,” Bessent said.
In a related effort to stabilize global oil prices, the U.S. said it is allowing Iranian oil tankers to cross the Strait of Hormuz. “The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.
Roughly 80% of Iran’s oil is shipped to Asia, with China accounting for the lion’s share of that consumption.
The U.S. is also considering waiving a regulation that bans gas stations from selling a blend called E15 from June 1 to Sept. 15, Reuters reported. The blend isn’t sold in warmer months because its higher ethanol content means it evaporates more easily in hot weather, which can contribute to air pollution.
Some state lawmakers are also pushing to waive local gasoline taxes, aiming to lower prices at the pump. The Georgia House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a measure that would suspend the state’s 33-cent per-gallon gas tax for 60 days, while lawmakers in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania are considering similar approaches.
On the foreign policy front, Mr. Trump is pressuring other countries to help open the Strait of Hormuz. Six major U.S. allies on Thursday voiced their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through” the strait, although the leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan provided no specifics.
“We don’t have to end the war — we have to have confidence about the ability of ships to move through Hormuz,” David Victor, energy expert and a professor of public policy at the University of California San Diego, told CBS News.”There’s not a lot else you can do over the short term beyond what’s being done already.”
Once the strait reopens, Victor added, “There would be immediate effects in the market. There would be a big reduction in price and improvement in liquidity.”
Edited by Alain Sherter
In:
- Oil and Gas
