Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown

 We older folks can still remember the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the”first oil shock”, and the 1979 “second oil shock” caused by the revolution in Iran. During the late 70’s we lived in rural Iowa, I commuted 30 miles to Des Moines. I remember well my time sitting in lines waiting for enough gas to get me back and forth to work the next few days, fill-ups were rare as the amount we could purchase was often rationed by the station. A 2005 paper on the issue estimated that Americans wasted 150,000 BARRELS of oil a day while sitting in line, idling, waiting for fuel.

To protect us from future reductions in oil supplies the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, led to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The Act authorized a reserve with a capacity of up to one billion barrels of petroleum, as constructed the Preserve had a 700 million barrel capacity. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR to the full 1 billion barrel authorized capacity, a process which would have required a physical expansion of the Reserve's facilities. On December 27, 2009; the SPR held 727 million barrels, the most it has ever held.

If we needed a Reserve of 700 million barrels in 1975 and a Reserve of one billion barrels in 2005, with the current administration's policies discouraging any  long term increase in US oil production, what do you think we should have today?

In February 2021, shortly after President Biden took office, the SPR held 656 million barrels. He allowed it to be slowly drawn down to 588 million barrels by February 2022, then he opened the spigots. It currently holds only 352 million barrels. President Biden has currently stopped any plans to replenish the SPR.

China was probably very thankful for the millions of barrels of SPR oil they received.

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