Oil prices are soaring, but Trump is downplaying the need to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [View all]

Source: AP

Updated 6:27 PM EST, March 7, 2026


NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices have soared in the week since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran, but President Donald Trump on Saturday downplayed the idea of turning to America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease the pressure.

Trump was asked by reporters on Air Force One about whether he would consider tapping the reserve. As the war continues to escalate across the Middle East, including in areas critical to the production and movement of oil and gas, that’s strained the energy sector globally. In the U.S., consumers are already facing higher gas prices, a key cost of living.

“We’ve got a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount,” Trump said. “There’s a lot of oil out there. That’ll get healed very quickly.”

Trump’s Republican Party is under pressure over the issue of affordability ahead of November midterm elections. Tapping the reserve is among the few things a president can do on his own to try to make an impact on oil prices.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-oil-strategic-petroleum-reserve-f94657cbef74c0c682f5cc6472bfb3cb

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What this AP reporter neglected to mention was that before leaving office when the per bbl prices hit ~$75 or below, the the Biden administration started buying more to begin to refill (quite a bit had earlier been sold when the price was running as high as ~$90/bbl in order to affect the market price, which it did to some degree).

And then when 45 got back in, he claimed he was going to "fill it right to the top", but that never happened, and they ceased filling the reserve due to little funding to do so - even when oil was cheap, in the $50 - $60/bbl range.

Current status - https://www.energy.gov/hgeo/opr/spr-quick-facts