Refilling Nation’s Depleted Petroleum Reserves Not Happening Overnight: Biden Official

President Joe Biden speaks about the banking system in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 13, 2023 in Washington. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Biden administration remains undecided about replenishing the nation’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) even as oil prices have fallen to favorable levels and resources are at multi-decade lows.

Last year, the Biden administration sold 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR. In January 2021, when Biden became president, America’s SPR reserves stood at 638 million barrels. But, it has fallen to 371.58 million barrels as of the week ending March 10, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. This is the lowest level since the 1980s. The Department of Energy (DoE) has said that it intends to replenish the reserves. However, there has been no update on when this will be done.

President Biden “is still committed to replenishing the SPR after extraordinary draws last year,” Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein said in a Bloomberg interview. “Nothing happens overnight. You have to decide that this is the right environment, so therefore, you wait to see where the prices are going to be landing.”

The administration had earlier stated that it would refill the SPR if oil could be purchased at around $70 per barrel. At the NYMEX exchange, oil prices remained above this level for much of the year—until recently. Prices are trading below $70 per barrel as of 10:00 a.m. EDT on March 17.

“We’ve seen a decline in oil prices, we’re seeing some crunch there … We should take a deep breath and wait and see how this crisis right now impacts the oil and gas industry, production, and what the profile is,” Hochstein said.

“So far, prices have come down. We’re watching it very closely; we’ll continue to watch it over the next several days.”

Compromising Energy Security

During a March 8 hearing (pdf) at the House Oversight Committee, Alex Epstein, the think-tank Center for Industrial Progress president, blamed the Biden administration for “abusing the SPR and, as a result, threatening our oil security.”

The purpose of the SPR is to aid the United States in securing a reliable supply of oil and fuels, to be used during supply disruptions like a disaster or sabotage, Epstein said during his testimony.

However, the SPR is only an “aid” to America’s oil security. The “core” of oil security is ensuring that the American oil industry is free to invest, produce, refine, and transport oil.

By “dangerously depleting” SPR for political purposes and attacking the freedom of the oil industry, Biden has damaged the country’s oil security, he said.

The SPR stockpile is supposed to be maintained at up to 1/10th of the country’s annual oil consumption. But since only around 370 million barrels exist in reserves, SPR now sits at just 1/20th of yearly consumption.

“The administration claims Putin’s war is exactly the kind of ‘emergency’ the SPR is designed for. Wrong. Putin’s war is not an oil emergency that justifies depleting the SPR now; it is a potential oil emergency that justifies keeping the SPR as full as possible,” Epstein said.

“Since oil prices have gone down since Biden’s biggest SPR withdrawals, the Administration is bragging that they can profitably refill it. But even if they can, it doesn’t change the fact that the depletion was reckless, putting our oil security in jeopardy at a critical time.”

Limiting SPR Sales

Multiple bills have been introduced to limit SPR withdrawals. On Jan. 27, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the “Strategic Production Response Act” to mandate a plan for additional oil and gas leasing on federal properties to offset SPR drawdowns.

On Feb. 1, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, introduced legislation to block the Biden administration from selling crude from the SPR to China or any company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bipartisan effort was supported by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

Meanwhile, even though the SPR reserve is at one of its lowest levels, the Biden administration still plans to withdraw 26 million barrels from it this fiscal year as part of laws enacted by Congress during the Obama administration in 2015.