On Monday, speaking to CNBC's Brian Sullivan, Energy Secretary Chris Wright described the Trump administration's efforts to re-fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
CNBC: Is the price right to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right now?@SecretaryWright: "Absolutely. We are refilling the Reserve now and we will continue to refill the Reserve the whole time I'm in office." pic.twitter.com/RZNXzz87zB
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 28, 2025
Brian Sullivan: Is the price right enough, pun intended I suppose, Mr. Secretary, to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right now?
Chris Wright: Absolutely. We are refilling the Reserve now and we will continue to refill the Reserve the whole time I'm in office. You know, that was just such an irreponsible action to drain that reserve so quickly for electoral reasons, and in fact it was drained so fast, it did some damage to the facilities. So right now we can only fill two of the four major salt caverns that we have. So, we're doing repair work on the other two, we're slowly filling the other two, and I'm trying to get some funds through Congress that will give us a longer strategic runway to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the fastest rate we can.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world's largest stored supply of crude oil, with a capacity of 714 million barrels, and is intended to serve as a reserve stock (hence the name) in the event of a national emergency. The petroleum is stored in four massive salt caverns along the Gulf of America, and as Secretary Wright pointed out, two of these are not only drained but also damaged by the withdrawal.
The Biden administration used the SPR as a piggy bank; when polling looked bad on the issue of gas prices, the Biden administration would release a few million barrels from the SPR to effect a short-term decrease in energy prices.
See Also: Biden's Latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve Failure Shows Just How Bad His Policies Are Versus Trump's
Secretary Wright also commented on his official X account:
America does not have an energy problem; we have had a permitting problem. @POTUS has taken historic action to unshackle American-made energy. He is reducing barriers to entry and reversing undue regulations on innovation. This expands domestic supply chains and safeguards…
— Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) April 28, 2025
The post continues:
He is reducing barriers to entry and reversing undue regulations on innovation. This expands domestic supply chains and safeguards Americans.
One worthwhile innovation would be placing a legal padlock on the SPR in the event we ever have another Democrat president who is looking to prop up polling numbers by releasing a few million barrels.
While it's good that we are refilling the SPR, it's a reflection of just how bad the Biden administration was on energy policy. From canceling the Keystone pipeline on day one, to canceling drilling leases from Alaska to the Gulf of America, right down to draining half of the SPR to achieve a modest drop in gas prices, the length of which might be measured in hours. Now the Trump administration is in the unenviable position of playing catch-up.
Still, though - what a difference a president makes.
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