Trump promises to fill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve ‘to the top.’
During his inaugural address at the Capitol, Trump promised to "lower prices, refill our strategic reserves to the top, and export American energy worldwide"
Bloomberg
Monday, 20 January 2025
President Donald Trump said he plans to fill the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve "to the top" after it reached levels not seen since the 1980s under President Joe Biden.
During his inaugural address at the Capitol, Trump promised to "lower prices, refill our strategic reserves to the top, and export American energy worldwide."
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has a maximum capacity of about 700 million barrels, currently stands at 394.4 million barrels following a record reduction during Biden's administration. The reduction included the sale of 180 million barrels on the global market in an effort to lower gasoline prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Biden had slowly begun to replenish the emergency stockpile, which was created after the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s, but ran out of funds to purchase more crude after acquiring about 60 million barrels. Congressional legislation would be needed to allocate more money to the Department of Energy's oil account.