While President Joe Biden brags about reducing gas prices by releasing gigantic amounts of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the crucial reserve has plunged to its lowest level of oil since May 1985.
Last week, the emergency crude oil stockpile plummeted 4.6 million barrels, leaving 469.9 million barrels, down from 618 million barrels last September, Reuters reported. The reserve can hold as much as 727 million barrels of oil.
Biden announced in March he would raid the reserve — which is spread among four sites along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana —depleting it by 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,” the White House bragged. “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,” said James Taylor of the Heartland Institute on the depletion of the SPR. “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,” declared Steve Milloy, former Trump/Pence EPA Transition Team Member.
In mid-July, Biden boasted, “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
Christina Pushaw, spokesperson for Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, fired, “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
The American Petroleum Institute has estimated that global crude oil cost is responsible for 61% cost of gasoline and that another 14% can be attributed to refining costs.