The Sconi

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports stock of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) trickled to its lowest levels in nearly four decades for the week ending Sept. 30.

EIA data further shows that at 416.39 million barrels, current SPR levels are down by 32.7% compared to a year ago, when the SPR held over 618 million barrels of oil. The sliding SPR totals represent the steepest drop in reserves since July 1984.

With the goal of bringing down rising gas prices, back in late March President Joe Biden announced the use of 180 million barrels of SPR crude oil over a six-month period. Critics of the plan have been quick to argue the president appears to be attempting to appease voters in an election year by desperately attempting to lower gas prices, even if it means turning his back on some of his own climate policies and leaving the SPR at a historic low level. At the time of his announcement, Biden said there would be a slight delay in declining gas prices, but the prices would eventually drop by an unknown range.

In November, Fox Business reported the Biden administration announced the release of 10 million more barrels from the SPR, changing course on a plan that originally called for it to stop releasing barrels from the SPR on Oct. 31.

"The president will continue to direct SPR releases as appropriate to protect American consumers and promote energy security," White House officials told Fox, after OPEC went public with its decision to cut 2 million barrels per day.  

In touting itself as the world’s largest supplier of crude oil on its webpage, the SPR usually stocks around 700 million barrels of crude oil in the case of unstable market supply or international emergencies, according to YCharts.

As of April 1, the SPR held 564.58 million barrels of oil in stock, but by Sept. 30, that inventory had dipped to 416.39 million barrels, a decrease of 148 million barrels since Biden's initial release.

While some argue the SPR is no longer necessary given the country’s energy security, in a Forbes op-ed Robert Rapier recently accused the Biden administration of using the SPR to help his party win in 2022. Rapier predicts the president’s vow to refill the SPR won’t happen until after the 2024 elections. He further brands Biden’s decision to tap into the SPR a “gamble” based on the way the administration must now hope that the country does not encounter a foreign oil supply crisis, which the SPR was created to address.

At its peak in 2010, the SPR reached 726.6 million barrels. As the U.S. has become more reliant on its own oil production, that same count now stands at less than 420 million barrels, the lowest in almost 40 years, Forbes reports.

Biden’s executive order on federal oil and gas leases was released on Jan. 27, 2021, citing the “climate crisis” as the main reason for the moratorium. The order lays out ways the administration will prioritize the climate crisis including “pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review.”

Rapier argues all the back and forth has only helped to make the situation more confusing.

“An administration that has frequently emphasized the importance of reducing carbon emissions is trying to increase oil supplies to bring down rising oil prices — which will in turn help keep demand (and carbon emissions) high,” he said.

The latest Gasoline Misery Index, which tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer will have to spend on gasoline on an annualized basis, reports that the average American is now spending in the neighborhood of $341 more on gas this year when compared to the same time a year ago. The Gas Misery Index also reports Americans are spending $837 more on gas today than when Biden took office in Janurary 2021.

As of Tuesday, the national average price of gas was $3.923 per gallon, 19 cents than just a month ago and 65 cents higher than last year. With OPEC’s recent announcement, prices on average across the country rose 12 cents in just one week, according to AAA.

Here in Wisconsin, GasonlineMiseryIndex.com reports motorists are now spending $511 more on gas compared to last year, with the state-wide average price of a gallon of gas in the state standing at $3.955.

The Washington Free Beacon recently reported in a Fox News interview Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House Coordinator John Kirby said, "We need to be less dependent on OPEC+ and foreign producers of resources like oil."

Kirby went on to point to Biden’s sale of drilling rights to oil companies, but steered clear of any mention about the moratorium he imposed on new federal oil and gas leases (signed in his first week in office) or his vow during a 2020 debate when he pledged "no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. Ends."