U.S. emergency crude oil reserves are rapidly dwindling, rapidly approaching the lowest level in 40 years, set under former President Joe Biden.
US officials continue to actively deplete the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to soften the blow of war with Iran.
The SPR fell by another 7.9 million barrels last week, matching the previous week’s decline of 8 million barrels, according to Department of Energy data released Monday.
This brings SPR’s crude oil reserves to 349.2 million barrels, the lowest level since August 2023.
At this pace, the SPR will fall below 346.8 million this week, the lowest level of the Biden era since July 2023.
That would leave America’s emergency oil reserves at the lowest level since the early 1980s, when the economy shrank and energy consumption declined.
As he began his campaign for the White House in 2022, President Donald Trump accused Biden of aggressively draining funds from SPR ahead of that year’s midterm elections.
But President Trump is now releasing emergency oil at an even faster pace ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
SPR has fallen by 66 million barrels since the war began in late February.
Mike Somers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, warned of the damage the Iran war is inflicting on the SPR. Here’s what he told CNN about production around the world:
‘We are sounding the alarm now’ Oil executive warns of impact of Iran war on oil reserves
