Old North News

President Joe Biden announced the use of Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) crude oil on March 31, with the goal of bringing down gas prices for American consumers.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported at the end of September that there were 416.39 million barrels in the nation's SPR. That is down 32.7% from a year ago when the SPR stood at 618 million barrels. The last time the SPR was at its current level was in July 1984. 

Critics suggest the president is attempting to temporarily appease voters during an election year with lower gas prices, going against his climate policies, while leaving the SPR at a historic low level. North Carolina gas prices have come down since the SPR was tapped, but they are beginning to rise again due to OPEC's decision to cut production. 

The Gasoline Misery Index tracks how much more (or less) consumers spend on gasoline on an annualized basis. The latest numbers showed that the average American is spending approximately $341 more on gas this year when compared to last year at this time, and $837 more on gas today than when Biden took office in January 2021.

Consumers in North Carolina are spending $278 more on gas compared to last year. The number is approximately $560 when you compare today's cost to what North Carolinians were paying before Biden took office. The statewide average price of gas in North Carolina was $3.51 as of Tuesday, AAA reported. 

The national average price of gas was $3.923 per gallon on Tuesday – 19 cents higher than last month and 65 cents higher than last year. The increase is attributed to the news that OPEC+ plans to cut production by two million barrels per day and the fact that more drivers are filling up, according to AAA. 

Approximately a month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused a spike in prices, Biden revealed the release of up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's SPR over six months, as seen in this video posted on YouTube. This was an effort to curb high gas prices. The president said there would be a delay of days or weeks before Americans would see gas prices decrease but they would go down. 

The SPR was designed to keep approximately 700 million barrels of crude oil in case of unstable market supply or international emergencies, energy.gov reported. The SPR reached 726.6 million barrels at its highest level in 2010. It is the world's largest supply of crude oil and its size makes it a deterrent against oil cutoffs. 

The SPR on April 1 held 564.58 million barrels of oil in stock, according to ycharts.com. SPR inventory dropped by 148 million barrels since Biden's initial release, to 416.39 million barrels as of Sept. 30.

The Biden administration revealed that 10 million more barrels would be released from the SPR in November, Fox Business reported. The administration's original plan was to stop releasing oil from the SPR on Oct. 31, but this changed due to OPEC's decision to cut two million barrels per day.

"The president will continue to direct SPR releases as appropriate to protect American consumers and promote energy security," White House officials said, according to Fox Business. 

Some people believe that the SPR is unnecessary due to America's energy security. Robert Rapier, in an opinion/editorial piece for Forbes, accused Biden of using the SPR to win at the polls in 2022. Although Biden said he will refill the oil stockpile, Rapier predicted that will not happen until after the 2024 elections. Rapier called Biden's decision to tap into the SPR a gamble because the SPR was created to prevent a national oil shortage. He noted that the U.S. has become more reliant on its own oil production, such as in 2021, when the U.S. was a net exporter of crude oil.

Biden issued an executive order on Jan. 27, 2021, ending federal oil and gas leases, according to a news brief from The White House. He cited the so-called climate crisis as the main reason for the moratorium. In the order, Biden said he would "prioritize the climate crisis" and "pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters, pending completion of a comprehensive review."

Rapier, however, argued that "an administration that has frequently emphasized the importance of reducing carbon emissions is trying to increase oil supplies to bring down rising oil prices – which will, in turn, help keep demand (and carbon emissions) high."

The Washington Free Beacon cited a Fox News interview with John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council. Kirby said the U.S. needs "to be less dependent on OPEC+ and foreign producers of resources like oil" after OPEC+ cut revealed its cut in production.

Kirby used Biden's sale of drilling rights as proof of the administration's commitment to energy independence but failed to mention Biden's moratorium on new federal oil and gas leases. Kirby also failed to mention Biden's assertion that there would be "no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period," which Biden claimed during a debate with former President Donald Trump in 2020. 

The Washington Free Beacon accused Biden of looking to foreign oil and relying on OPEC while stifling domestic production. The Biden administration is doing everything it can to lower gas prices in the hopes of winning, with the midterm elections less than a month away, the article said.

"The Biden administration is reportedly in panic mode as gas prices have surged in the past week and has threatened to take unprecedented executive action to limit oil exports unless oil executives bring prices down," The Washington Free Beacon said.