There are emergency reserves that are kept for emergencies, and there is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is currently at its lowest level since 1983, has one storage site rendered unusable due to Biden-era maintenance failures, and is being drawn down by the Trump administration during the Iran war for exactly the emergency purpose it was designed for, which is also exactly what Republicans spent two years criticizing Biden for doing.
FOX Business reporter Edward Lawrence confirmed yesterday on America’s Newsroom that the SPR has declined to a 43-year low amid the Iran war and Biden-era releases, and that the Biden administration’s failure to maintain storage sites has left at least one critical facility unusable. The reserve sits along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana in a series of underground salt caverns. One of those caverns is no longer operational. The reserve as a whole holds less oil than it has since 1983, which is the year Ronald Reagan was in his first term and the Strait of Hormuz was not a conflict zone.
The Trump administration has been drawing down the SPR during the Iran war to prevent severe price spikes, per Raw Story’s confirmed reporting Monday, which is the same action that Republican senators Tom Cotton and others described as “not a long-term solution” and “dangerous” and “floating Biden’s terrible poll numbers” when Biden did it in 2022 and 2023 after Russia invaded Ukraine. CNBC’s Steve Liesman told colleagues Monday that the reserve is “at the lowest level since 1983, and then as a percentage of the oil we need, it’s at its lowest level. And God forbid, there should be something like a hurricane or something, and we need to draw down again.” Gas nationally reached $4 a gallon on Monday, per AAA, for the first time since the ceasefire collapsed.
Conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti described the situation Monday as a “nightmare scenario,” noting that the Houthis have announced a new maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, China is expected to resume oil purchases, and the SPR has no runway. “This is the reason the Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists in the first place,” he said, “and to now be at the lowest level since 1983, you just have no runway.” He said this about a reserve that the administration of which he is broadly supportive is currently drawing down, using the same mechanism that he and his ideological allies spent 2022 describing as Biden’s folly.
The Biden administration released approximately 180 million barrels from the SPR between 2021 and 2024. The Trump administration promised to refill it. Refilling requires purchasing oil. Purchasing oil requires money. Congress has not allocated the money. The Iran war restarted. Gas is back above $4.
When both administrations drain the emergency reserve during their respective emergencies, one site is unusable, and analysts are warning of literal shortages, what exactly was the reserve for?
Sources
Fox News: US oil reserves hit 43-year low, Biden admin criticized for maintenance failures
Raw Story: ‘Literal shortages’ mere weeks away as Trump’s war reaches ‘catastrophic’ heights
