The Trump administration announced the U.S. and other members of the International Energy Agency will be releasing the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history.
President Trump confirmed on social media Truth Social the move will include 172 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) – 40% of the reserves - and is scheduled to begin this week and take approximately 120 days. The release of reserves will constitute a drop of more than 40% of America’s energy backstop and leave the reserve at levels not seen since the early 1980s.
It marks the first drawdown of the SPR since the Biden administration released 1 million barrel a day for six months in 2022. According to the Department of Energy, the SPR holds massive volumes of crude oil across four sites along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, which were created after the oil embargo in the 1970s.
Critics of the move note that while the action typically aims to lower gas prices, it removes long-term security, leaving the nation vulnerable to a supply crisis and can lead to increased foreign oil dependency. Cutting the reserves over 40% lowers the nation’s primary backstop against unforeseen geopolitical crises or natural disasters.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) states that maintaining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a critical security tool to combat disruptions in the oil market. The reserve is intended to be America’s insurance policy against a severe oil supply disruption or a severe economic disruption. According to the IPAA, “We strongly oppose the use of oil stockpiles to affect gasoline prices.
Market interference makes us all more vulnerable and is counterproductive to long-term adjustments in the marketplace. A better solution is to enhance, not stifle or shut-down, America’s leadership in natural gas and oil production. If the government regularly released SPR oil for sale each time domestic fuel prices rose, we could reduce our ability to address a situation with the potential to seriously injure the U.S. economy. In addition, a draw-down of the reserve might not have the desired result.
“Over the past few days, several members of Congress have urged the White House and the Department of Energy to sell oil from the SPR. They seek crude oil sales from the reserve to relieve the recent spikes in gasoline prices, not because there is a crude oil supply emergency, but more so a political problem for them.'