Trump admin to make big oil buy in bid to refill reserves Biden drained

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced Wednesday that it advanced a plan to acquire one million crude oil barrels and begin replenishing the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The DOE awarded contracts “to the most competitive bids that met all quality and specification requirements,” the agency said Wednesday, following its Oct. 21 “solicitation to purchase one million barrels of crude oil.” President Donald Trump promised to replenish the SPR supply, according to the agency, which the Biden administration accessed ahead of the 2022 midterm elections as surging gas prices created a major political conundrum for former President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats.

“President Trump promised to protect America’s energy security by refilling and managing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve more responsibly,” said DOE Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday. “Awarding these contracts marks another step in the important process of refilling this national security asset. While this process won’t be complete overnight, these actions are an important step in strengthening our energy security and reversing the costly and irresponsible energy policies of the last administration.”

Though Biden attempted to restock the reserve near the end of his term, his administration saw the SPR fall to its lowest level since 1983, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

“The SPR was severely weakened by the previous administration’s reckless 180-million-barrel drawdown in 2022, which incurred nearly $280 million in costs, delayed critical infrastructure maintenance, and put unprecedented wear and tear on storage and injection facilities,” the DOE said Wednesday.

Some energy policy experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Biden’s move to drain the reserve left the U.S. in a potentially precarious situation. Notably, Biden also passed on refilling it in April 2024, when oil prices were about $85 per barrel, well above the administration’s stated goal of $79 per barrel.

“The contracts awarded on November 12, 2025, are for deliveries beginning in December 2025 through January 2026 to the Bryan Mound site,” the DOE said. “Currently, the SPR holds just over 400 million barrels out of its capacity of approximately 700 million barrels.”

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