As President Joe Biden tries to brag about lower gas prices by a very small amount via the release of extreme amounts of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the levels of the crucial reserve have dropped down to their lowest point since back in May of 1985.
This past week, the emergency crude oil stockpile dropped almost 4.6 million barrels, leaving a total of 469.9 million barrels, which is a point down from where it started at 618 million barrels as of last September, as reported by Reuters. The reserve is made to stockpile as much as 727 million barrels of crude oil.
Back in March, Biden announced that he would be making use of the reserve system, which is spread out over four locations around the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana — dropping it by roughly 1 million barrels per day (BPD) over six months.
“The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time,” lauded White House officials. “This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up.”
“Joe Biden has dangerously sacrificed America’s long-term national security in exchange for a very slight, short-lived mitigation of his inflationary energy prices,” explained James Taylor of the Heartland Institute on the depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “Now, just a month later, gasoline prices are higher than ever, and our national energy security is in more danger than ever.”
“By draining the SPR and discouraging more oil production, Joe Biden is endangering our national security,” exclaimed former Trump/Pence EPA Transition Team Member, Steve Milloy.
Back in mid-July, Biden exclaimed, “I’ve been releasing about 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and rallied our global partners to release a combined 240 million barrels of oil onto the market. Our actions are working, and prices are coming down.”
I’ve been releasing about 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and rallied our global partners to release a combined 240 million barrels of oil onto the market.
Our actions are working, and prices are coming down. pic.twitter.com/5zrBPGvRJv
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 19, 2022
The spokesperson for Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, Christina Pushaw, explained, “Oh so now presidents control the price of gas? Last month it was beyond your control. By the way, everyone remembers what it cost before you became president. It’s twice as expensive now. Food is also becoming extremely costly.”
Oh so now presidents control the price of gas? Last month it was beyond your control. By the way, everyone remembers what it cost before you became president. It's twice as expensive now. Food is also becoming extremely costly.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 19, 2022
It has been estimated by the American Petroleum Institute that global crude oil cost is the reason for 61% of the cost of gas and that another 14% can be blamed on refining costs.