I believe that you have nailed it. He, I presume, is praying that nothing happens to raise retail prices before the election.
I don't see how higher oil prices can be avoided. Just as higher oil prices creates the environment for demand destruction, lower oil prices will lead to more consumption. That would be more consumption at a time when global reserves are 60 million barrels smaller. I wonder what that sort of situation will do to oil prices.
The bottom line is that much of the developing world is consuming more oil every day. The current release of oil reserves only represents 2/3 of one day's oil consumption and this release does nothing to bring more daily production to the table. So what more than a short term reduction has been gained here?
Also, if the Federal Reserve needs to get back to quantitative easing in order to boost the economy, you can count on that to provide upward pressure on commodities in general and oil prices in particular.