[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
Trump Team Holds Oil Reserve Despite Price Spike
Rubio Previews Cost-Mitigation Plan as Iran Tensions Mount
Key Takeaways:
- The Trump administration has no immediate plans to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve despite rising crude and gasoline prices after the Iran conflict.
- Officials said the reserve holds about 415 million barrels and warned that a severe crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could overwhelm emergency supplies.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an energy cost mitigation program will begin Tuesday, with further phases expected to roll out.
The Trump administration has no immediate plans to release oil from the nation’s emergency reserve in response to surging crude and gasoline prices in the wake of the Iran conflict, according to a person familiar with the situation.
A decision to tap the Energy Department’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve could help stanch price spikes, at least temporarily. The reserveabout 415 million barrels, or a little more than half of its roughly 700 million-barrel capacity.
“The Trump Administration’s policies have led to the highest production of U.S. oil ever with even more oil from our newfound market and agreements with Venezuela,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The Departments of Energy and Treasury will continue to monitor oil markets and do everything possible to keep prices stable.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a program to mitigate energy costs due to the conflict will begin March 3. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, he said he’d spoken to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright about the program but offered no details.
“You will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that,” Rubio said, according to a State Departmentof his remarks. “We anticipated this could be an issue.”
RELATED:Crude Spike Prompts Producers to Secure Future Prices
Any move to release oil from the reserve would likely be coordinated withto the International Energy Agency. Still, a “full-on crisis” in the Strait of Hormuz could outstrip emergency oil supplies held by the US and other IEA members, ClearView Energy Partners said in a note.
U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to refill the oil cache, created after the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, following a series of drawdowns by the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden. Those included a record sale of 180 million barrels into the global market aimed at lowering gasoline prices after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
