The History of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Statement

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has a long history of supporting our nation through times of war and national emergency.

The SPR was created in December of 1975 when President Gerald Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. This was in response to the 1973 oil embargo from the Arab exporting states of OPEC that inflicted enormous harm on the United States economy. These Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, cut supply to the world market because of Western support for Israel. This caused oil prices to quadruple.

Today, the SPR is a collection of 60 underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana and Texas. These caverns can store 714 million gallons of crude oil at maximum capacity and are federally owned and managed by the Department of Energy. Only the president can tap into the reserve.

Before President Biden, the SPR had only been tapped three times since its creation 47 years ago. The first was in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the second was after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, which knocked out domestic production in the Gulf of Mexico, and the third occurred in 2011 because of supply chain disruptions from unrest in the Middle East including several oil producing countries, such as Libya.

In the past 14 months, President Biden has doubled that number and broken the record for the largest release to date when he announced the release of 50 million barrels in November 2021. Then he released another 30 million this past March. Now, his administration announced they will tap into the reserve again at the tune of one million barrels per day for months on end. The total release could be up to 180 million barrels, which would be the largest ever release in history and 25 percent of the total reserve when at peak capacity.

President Biden's announcement, which will do little to bring down gas prices for Americans, comes at a time when the SPR is already at a 20-year low. After stifling the oil and gas industry and handing over our energy independence, he is now tapping into our emergency supply. For reference, Oklahoma alone has over 1.4 billion barrels worth of crude oil right under our feet. If President Biden wants to admit the importance of American oil and gas, there are better, long-term ways to do it. He can start right here in our state.

I urge the president to remember why the SPR was created in the first place -- America was reliant on oil from our adversaries in OPEC, and it was weaponized against us. Instead of doubling down on his anti-American energy agenda, President Biden should be working to make sure this never happens again.

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