Trump celebrates high oil prices while US drains the reserves to their lowest in decades

President Donald Trump told Americans that rising oil prices are good because “we make a lot of money.” His own administration announced the biggest emergency oil release in history to bring those prices down. 

Trump posted the comment on TRUTH Social, saying the US is the world’s largest oil producer and benefits when prices rise. Lawmakers shot back, saying regular Americans are the ones paying more at the pump.

Gas now costs a national average of around $3.60 per gallon, up from roughly $2.90 before the conflict started, a jump of about 65 cents per gallon, according to AAA.

The war started after a joint US-Israeli strike on Iran over concerns about Iranian missiles. Iran hit back, and the fighting spread. Trump said earlier this week it will all be over “soon,” but oil markets remain rattled. The Strait of Hormuz is closed, Iran has hit energy infrastructure across the region, and Iraq shut its oil port terminals after two tankers near its coast were struck.

Lawmakers and critics push back on Trump’s oil remarks

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia told Trump to “end this stupid war” and cut gas prices, saying the president does not mind the pain at the pump because his “big oil donors” are making money. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey said when Trump says “we make a lot of money,” he means oil executives and wealthy investors, not working families. Journalist Zaid Jilani said Trump’s industry friends gain while consumers pay. Economist Jim Stanford said oil owners benefit while most Americans are hurt.

To bring prices down, the US Department of Energy said it will sell 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the country’s emergency oil supply. The Group of Seven nations agreed to release a combined 400 million barrels, which the International Energy Agency called the largest such release on record.

The reserve has been run by the federal government since 1975. It holds oil in more than 60 underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. Each cavern is roughly 200 feet wide and more than 2,500 feet tall, large enough to fit nearly two Empire State Buildings stacked together. It can hold more than 700 million barrels at full capacity, but currently sits at around 413 million barrels after big withdrawals during the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

Reserve raid would hit lowest level since 1982

Pulling out 172 million barrels would take the reserve to levels last seen in 1982, five years after it opened. The release starts next week and is expected to take about 120 days.

Crude oil prices still went up after the announcement. The international benchmark Brent crude climbed back toward $100 per barrel after dipping earlier in the week.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News Wednesday night the releases would run over four months, but he does not think the conflict will last that long. He promised to refill the reserve with around 200 million barrels within a year.

Goldman Sachs analysts said the final number could come in well below the 400 million barrel promise, putting it closer to 254 million barrels if the war eases and the Strait of Hormuz reopens. The full release, they said, would only happen if the disruption drags on much longer.

The IEA said its members hold over 1.2 billion barrels in emergency reserves combined, meaning this release would use up roughly a third of that supply.

Most recent US presidents have left office with less oil in the reserve than when they took over. Biden’s drawdowns were the biggest. The reserve dropped by more than 290 million barrels between January 2021 and June 2023 after the Ukraine war, before a slow refill began. He left office with about 243 million fewer barrels than when he started.