U.S. Emergency Oil Reserve Hits Lowest Levels Since 1983: Why It Matters
WSJ’s David Uberti explains how the Strategic Petroleum Reserve works to help blunt the impact of oil shocks such as the Iran War
In underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana, the U.S. government stores hundreds of millions of barrels worth of oil in case of energy shocks. Those reserves are now at their lowest levels in decades.
In May, President Trump said the U.S. would release up to 172 million barrels worth of that oil to help tamp down prices during one of the world’s worst energy disruptions. The war with Iran hinges in large part on control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil transited before the conflict.
Watch the video above to learn more about how we got here and the debate over what’s next for the U.S.’s strategic oil reserves.