White House won’t take tapping strategic oil reserve off the table

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that officials won’t rule out tapping the country’s strategic petroleum stockpile if oil prices spike.

“We never take options off the table, but I have nothing -- no announcements to make or anything like that,” Carney said when asked whether the White House would consider releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Carney noted that there is "no silver bullet in dealing with global oil prices," adding that the administration is pursuing an "all-of-the-above approach" to energy that includes cutting reliance on foreign oil, expanding domestic production and investing in renewable energy.

But he said the administration is monitoring oil prices "very carefully."

"The president is keenly aware of the impact higher gas prices have on families trying to make ends meet," Carney said.

The White House in June approved the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the reserve to combat supply losses from Libya that officials said are threatening the economic recovery.

The 727-million barrel reserve, which is stored in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast, was established after the oil embargo of the 1970s.

Emergency sales of oil from the reserve are rare and have occurred in 1991 at the outset of Operation Desert Storm and again in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf oil production and refining sector.