America’s emergency oil reserve is about to hit lowest level since Reagan era as Trump’s Iran war burns through 66M barrels

America’s emergency oil reserve is about to hit lowest level since Reagan era as Trump’s Iran war burns through 66M barrels - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments President Donald Trump's ongoing war with Iran is draining America's emergency supply of crude oil — which is just days away from hitting its lowest level in more than 40 years, according to a report Wednesday. Since March, Trump has tapped 66 million gallons of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to keep exports flowing and prevent Americans from seeing their price at the pumps reach new heights, Fortune said. The reserve dipped to a 3-year low of 349.2 million barrels on June 5 and is being depleted at a rate of nearly 9 million barrels a week. If it falls under the 346.7 million barrel mark reached in July 2023 under then-President Joe Biden, it will be lower than since Ronald Regan was president in 1983. “It’s a pretty monumental number to hear multi-decade lows reached,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told Fortune. “The longer this goes on, the fewer tools the administration has in dealing with it, and the more risk there is to a slingshot for costs.” The U.S. national average price of a gallon of regular gas was $4.15 on Wednesday, down from $4.26 a week ago but up from $3.12 up from the same time last year, according to AAA. De Haan told Fortune that with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed by the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, analysts were worried that energy markets could "panic" and prices skyrocketing as early as next month. Trump threatened Wednesday to strike Iran "very hard" unless it finalized a peace deal with the U.S., saying, "They keep playing us for suckers." His comments came after an American military helicopter was shot down Monday over the strait, leading the U.S. to strike 20 Iranian targets. Iran then launched attacks against U.S. bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. In addition to U.S. exports fueled by the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, global price increases have been limited by conservation efforts in some countries and decreased demand from China, which has a 1.4 billion gallon stockpile that's the largest in the world. But analysts say the status quo can't continue much longer, according to Fortune. “Nobody really has the answer for when we’re going to hit those levels,” De Haan said. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in 1975 in response to the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-74, which shocked the U.S. economy and led to gas rationing and a national speed limit of 55 mph. It's held in four major storage facilities carved into massive salt deposits along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana, with each cavern capable of holding from six to 37 million barrels. The amount of crude oil stashed there peaked in January 2010, when the reserve comprised more than 726.6 million barrels. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments