Trump Promised to Refill America's Emergency Oil Reserve. Instead, It Just Saw Its Largest Weekly Drain in History.

About 10 million barrels were withdrawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a single week, leaving total holdings under 375 million barrels. The drawdown comes as crude prices rise, with West Texas Intermediate moving from the high $50s to mid $70s a year earlier to over $100 per barrel. Oil market strength increases the cost of refilling the reserve, while allowing barrels to be released can help soften domestic prices and support allies. The SPR consists of salt caverns along the Gulf Coast designed to provide emergency supply during disruptions such as closed shipping lanes, hurricane shutdowns, or sanctions that remove major barrels from global markets. The reserve is now roughly half its 2009–2010 peak.

"The Strategic Petroleum Reserve just posted what may be its largest single-week drawdown on record. Roughly 10 million barrels came out of the SPR in one week, leaving the total stockpile under 375 million barrels RECORD: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve just fell by its largest ever weekly amount: almost 10 million barrels. Total SPR now at under 375 million barrels."

"When crude is this elevated, the government has two choices: pay top dollar to buy barrels for the reserve, or quietly let some out the back door to soften domestic prices and shore up allies. This week, it chose the second."

"The SPR was built after the 1973-74 OPEC oil embargo, when gas lines stretched around the block and the country learned how exposed it was to foreign supply shocks. The reserve is salt caverns along the Gulf Coast holding crude that can be released in an emergency. It peaked near 727 million barrels in 2009-2010. Today's level is roughly half of that."

"For a household, the abstraction translates pretty directly. The reserve exists so that if a tanker war closes a shipping lane, or a hurricane shuts down Gulf refineries, or a sanctions regime knocks Russian or Iranian barrels offline, Washington has a buffer before pump prices spiral. With the buffer this thin,"

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