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A Strategic Petroleum Reserve Red Herring
Biden’s unprecedented oil drawdowns damaged U.S. storage sites.
By
The Editorial Board
WSJ
March 9, 2026 5:57 pm ET

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The Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage at the Bryan Mound site in Freeport, Texas, Oct. 19, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Could Democrats be more cynical? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others are criticizing President Trump for not tapping the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tamp down rising gasoline prices. The problem is that Joe Biden’s enormous drawdown from the reserve to mitigate a political backlash over inflation has made this harder to do.

“When wars and global crises disrupt energy markets, the United States has the ability to act, but President Trump and his administration are refusing to do so,” Mr. Schumer thundered on Monday. Allow us to distill some relevant facts that he omits.

Congress established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo to mitigate supply disruptions in emergencies. Before the Biden Presidency, the reserve had been tapped during three oil shocks: the first Gulf War in 1991 (17 million barrels), Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (11 million) and the Libya unrest in 2011 (30 million).

As energy prices rose with inflation, Mr. Biden in November 2021 announced a release of 50 million barrels. Gasoline prices were not especially high at the time ($3.40 a gallon), but the Biden crowd’s goal was to ease public fury over rising costs while they pursued policies to restrict domestic oil and gas production.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden team in March 2022 approved release of another 180 million barrels over six months. “The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this one million per day rate for this length of time,” Mr. Biden declared.

He was right, though it didn’t do much to curb gasoline prices, which hit $5 a gallon in June 2022. All told, the Biden team drew down 284 million barrels between 2021 and 2023. Mr. Biden could have eased prices by encouraging more domestic production and not snubbing the Saudis, which had excess capacity. He didn’t.

The rapid drawdown caused damage to the geologic sites around the Gulf Coast where the oil is stored. Democrats slam the Trump Administration for not refilling the reserve, but the storage facilities require extensive repairs before they can be refilled. Last summer’s budget bill appropriated $218 million for maintenance and repairs, which weren’t a priority for the Biden team.

Another rapid drawdown risks more damage. It would also take two weeks for oil in storage to enter the U.S. market. The Administration aims by that time to restore traffic that has ground to a halt in the Strait of Hormuz—the cause of surging oil prices—and has said the Navy will escort tankers if necessary.

Rising prices are painful, but the U.S. and Israel strikes will prevent Iran from inflicting more havoc and pain down the road.


Link: Petroleum Reserve