United States: U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright will request a maximum of $20 billion from the government to fulfill President Donald Trump’s directive to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its maximum limits, according to Bloomberg News on Friday.
According to an interview with Bloomberg News, Wright indicated that the plan would repopulate reserves up to “just close to the top” in order to keep operations running smoothly, as reported by Reuters.
“Ultimately that’s what it was built for — to have the maximum security for the American people,” Wright told Bloomberg.
Rebuilding the Nation’s Emergency Oil Supply
The SPR, established in 1975, functions as an emergency reserve that helps minimize supply disruptions from events such as hurricanes and producer-nation conflicts.
On his first day in office, Trump announced that his administration would undertake the reserve filling operations, which lasted for multiple years. During his presidency, Biden received criticism from Trump about draining the reserve to lower gasoline prices.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to seek up to $20 billion to accomplish Trump’s goal of refilling the nation’s depleted oil reserve to its maximum capacity https://t.co/pqSnqR2bpz
— Bloomberg Asia (@BloombergAsia) March 7, 2025
From Depletion to Restoration
The SPR maintains its position as the global leading emergency crude oil reserve by storing approximately 727 million barrels of which it currently holds 395 million barrels. The $20 billion Congress needs to approve would enable the purchase of 301 million barrels of U.S. crude oil at current market prices while reducing the SPR size to under 700 million barrels.
A Political Battleground
The Biden administration drained approximately 300 million barrels of oil from the reserve especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered the 180 million barrel sale during 2022, as reported by Reuters.
The oil reserves dropped to their most depleted point in four decades due to recent sales.
The Biden administration made its final SPR oil purchase in November 2021, while deliveries ran until May 2022. During his presidency the administration unilaterally ended purchase orders that members of both Republican and Democratic parties in Congress had previously approved.