The letter noted that gas futures went up by more than eight percent this week, which is an increase that has not happened since July of 2015, and retail gas prices are already up an average of six cents since last week.
Releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would help ensure there is no disruption to oil supply while nearly 20 percent of the county's oil refining capacity recovers from Hurricane Harvey, the letter said.
The largest refinery in the United States, located in Port Arthur, Texas, shut down on Wednesday due to flooding. At least 12 other refineries, including Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, the second-largest in the United States, are also offline.
On Friday, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a category four storm, affecting mainly the southeastern part of the state, including the city of Houston, in addition to southwestern part of the state of Louisiana.
