The Trump administration ordered the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve this week, making it the second-largest release from the reserve in its history after former President Joe Biden’s 2022 withdrawal of 180 million barrels.
The move was meant to stem oil prices, which hovered over $100 a barrel Friday amid the war with Iran.
The release of oil, which will start next week and roll out over 120 days, would bring the nation’s oil reserves to roughly 243 million barrels, down 41% from its current 415 million barrels. That would leave the strategic stockpile at its lowest levels since 1982, according to a CBS News analysis of data from the Department of Energy.
The last major drawdown of oil reserves occurred in March of 2022, when Biden ordered the release of 180 million barrels to combat rising gas prices caused by the war in Ukraine. His administration previously released 50 million barrels in 2021.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. was about $4.23 a gallon in March of 2022, according to data from AAA. The organization puts current average gas prices at $3.63, up 22% from $2.98 before the start of the Iran conflict.
“The United States has arranged to more than replace these strategic reserves with approximately 200 million barrels within the next year,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement on Wednesday.
The SPR was created in 1975 under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act in response to the 1970s energy crisis. The first sale was a test sale of 5 million barrels in 1985, and again in 1990, when President George H.W. Bush sold 5 million barrels to test the readiness of the reserve.
More recently, the U.S. withdrew 32 million barrels in 2021 to combat disruptions caused by the pandemic. The U.S. would typically make releases from disruptions caused by natural disasters such as 3.3 million barrels after Hurricane Ida in 2021 and 11 million barrels after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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