Biden’s Reckless Depletion of Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Upon assuming the presidency, Donald Trump declared his intentions to drive down costs, replenish the nation’s energy reserves to their maximum levels, and promote the global export of American energy. His pledge in question pertained to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), a crucial energy reserve of the country. Yet, despite his promises to revive this reserve, Trump’s huge spending bill allocated a mere $171 million for petroleum acquisitions.

Restoring the reserve to its state when ex-President Joe Biden first took office would necessitate the procurement of about 236 million barrels of oil. With the prevailing oil prices dancing around $65 per barrel, the paltry $171 million assigned by Congress is positioned to contribute only a trivial few million barrels to the reserve.

The SPR, a testament to the fact that energy security directly equates national security, was established following the 1972 OPEC oil embargo in efforts to cushion the blow of domestic and overseas interruptions. Climbing to its zenith in January 2010, the SPR stored an impressive 727 million barrels of oil.

When Joe Biden began his presidency in January 2021, the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) reported SPR to be holding over 638 million barrels of oil. By June 2022, when Russia ignited a conflict with Ukraine, the average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. had escalated to almost $4.30 per gallon.

As the midterm elections loomed, the soaring gas prices were likely to motivate voters to choose Republican candidates instead. In response, Biden began to deplete the SPR to alleviate these prices. By the time his term ended, the reserve held just 395 million barrels, indicating a deep drain on US energy resources by the Biden administration.

The reserves have historically been utilized for different purposes over the years. Often, the oil is released under exchange agreements, functioning similarly to a loan. The loan manifests as actual barrels of oil, which are compensated with interest at a stipulated future date.

One such exchange agreement dictated the Department of Energy to lend ExxonMobil one million barrels of oil from the SPR. In return, ExxonMobil would reimburse the borrowed crude in future, complete with additional barrels, and all at no expense to the citizens. Nonetheless, such agreements appear more as political maneuvers than responsibility for energy security.

Another provision in Trump’s flamboyant bill allocated $218 million towards maintaining the SPR facilities. The reserves are stored in 62 salt caverns, each measuring 200 feet in width and extending more than 2,500 feet underground. Salt domes are favored storage formations due to their inert nature with oil and self-repairing characteristics.

Originally designed to be used for a quarter-century, the storage sites were once believed to have the capacity to store 727 million barrels of oil, as per sonic measurements. Regrettably, repeated extraction over the years caused the caverns to deform, also worsened by persistent geological pressure.

Consequently, the caverns are predicted to lose two million barrels each year. However, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) warns that the rate of shrinkage could be even higher. Unsurprisingly, a neglectful approach to energy management seems to have been a hallmark of the Biden administration.

In an earlier term, Trump attempted to add 75 million barrels of oil to the SPR when oil prices hit an all-time low during the pandemic’s onset, but his efforts were ultimately rebuffed by Congress. Given his track record, it’s unlikely Trump would handle SPR the way the Biden administration did.

Rebuilding the SPR to its former glory is projected to be a lengthy and gradual process. Yet, this doesn’t detract from its necessity, underscoring the Biden administration’s mismanagement of this vital aspect of national security. If the past is any indication of the future, these renewed efforts may not be as successful as one would hope.

While the allocation made for SPR replenishment might intimate Trump’s commitment to energy security, the figure is grossly inadequate. It speaks volumes about the administration’s approach to managing our key national resources. Despite the rhetoric, the realities of the SPR and its strategic importance seem to have fallen by the wayside under both Trump and Biden’s respective tenures.

Replacing the oil drawn down from the SPR under Biden will be challenging, given the reductions in storage capacity due to natural geological processes and the repeated withdrawals reducing the caverns’ structural stability. However, that challenge does not absolve Biden’s haphazard depletion of the Reserve.

Despite the notable hurdles, it remains an important task to ensure America’s energy self-sufficiency and national security. Given the instances of heedless depletion in the past, it is clear that more intelligent stewardship of the SPR is needed moving forward. Unfortunately, the management of the SPR under Biden was more shortsighted than strategic, leading us to the predicament we find ourselves in today.