It may take Washington plenty of time to refill its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), US Oil and Gas Association President Tim Stewart said in an interview with Fox News.
Stewart noted that before last year, the largest release was 31 million barrels of oil during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm followed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in 30 million barrels being released.
13 September 2022, 17:50 GMT
A year ago, however, he said, the Biden administration "initiated this largest drawdown in our history, because it needed to get through an election cycle, not necessarily a hurricane or a major military conflict."
According to Stewart, in order to restore the US to the 2021 levels and completely replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the Biden administration must refill 168 million barrels, as the SPR is currently at a record low not seen in decades. Additionally, an additional 300 million barrels would be necessary for full replenishment.
"It’s going to be very expensive and take a long time," US Oil and Gas Association President underscored.
Confirming that the SPR has already been depleted 40%, he stressed that part of the problem pertains to US investments in “the refineries which allow them to refine the light crude that we were producing.”
The US administration made it clear that such investments are impossible, Stewart said, adding that "there’s strategic and global security issue," related to the problem.
He spoke after the American press cited unnamed sources as saying earlier this year that the US Department of Energy intends to repurchase 12 million barrels of crude oil before the end of 2023 to refill the SPR.
An Energy Department spokesperson said at the time that they would continue to “seek opportunities for additional repurchases as market conditions and the constraints of SPR operations allow.”