🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 Donald Trump started the war with Iran without filling up the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve, making American consumers vulnerable to price shocks

The reserve, created in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo, was left well below its capacity after Biden opened the taps to contain crude prices following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has since failed to fulfil the vow he made in his inauguration speech last year to “refill our reserves right up to the top again”.

The outcome has left the US short of firepower to quell a new surge in petrol prices triggered by Trump’s war in Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on energy assets in the Gulf, which have hurt supplies.

The Trump administration had missed the opportunity to refill the reserve last year when oil was cheaper, he said. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a fifth of global supply, would make it harder to replenish the SPR.

The reserve currently contains 415mn barrels of oil, or about 20 days of total US consumption — well below its 714mn-barrel capacity. Drawing down too much of the oil too quickly could damage the salt caverns holding it, say experts. It would cost more than $20bn to refill, according to the US Department of Energy.

Funding shortages and maintenance delays at the underground facilities in Texas and Louisiana have also hindered replenishment. Biden released 180mn barrels starting in 2021 as petrol prices rose towards record highs in 2022.

Soaring US shale output in recent decades has insulated the US somewhat from the type of physical supply shortages seen in the 1970s oil shocks or Europe’s energy crisis.

But US oil prices have risen 16 per cent since Trump launched the attacks on Iran last weekend, pushing the cost of petrol prices — refined from crude — up 9 per cent to $3.25 a gallon on Thursday, the highest level since April.

The Trump administration told the FT this week it would not tap the SPR to contain any price jump. It is working on alternative price plans, including providing US Navy escorts and insurance to tankers threatened by Iran in the Gulf.

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