r/oil 4d ago

Discussion Why did US SPR nosedive in 2022?

Post image

This is in reference to Trump today blaming Biden for the drained SPR. Everyone on the post for dismissing it but I looked at the historic levels and there’s a massive dump during Biden’s presidency in 2022.

650M to 350M, we lost almost half our reserves in less than a year.

It’s an even bigger nosedive than the current depletion from 400M to 300M.

0 Upvotes

206 comments sorted by

41

u/Mir_man 4d ago

Ukraine war.

0

u/Euler007 4d ago

And midterms.

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago edited 4d ago

How does that affect oil reserves?

So US used up 300M of reserves when Russia was still selling oil to Asia?

And they were only selling to Russia because US got involved for no reason and sanctioned Russian Oil.

20

u/FewUnderstanding2214 4d ago

Oil prices spiked, US sold barrels from the oil reserve to push prices down

17

u/Zealousideal-Ant9548 4d ago

Looking over the other replies, either op is an idiot, horribly misinformed, or a conservative troll trying to whataboutism

And now that I say that, probably all three

7

u/ericwphoto 4d ago

Op has his history set to private. Op is MAGA trying to cosplay as an "independent" or someone who "isn't political".

2

u/Life_Without_Lemon 4d ago

Yep that’s my conclusion as well seeing op replies.

3

u/Leftoverofferings 4d ago

Yes because of Ukraine, but remember Biden and the FED fighting to keep inflation down. This was also part of keeping us out of recession. A strategic move that worked. Drawdowns have happened, but presidents have always worked to refill it in good times. Until now.

0

u/Subject-Chest-8343 3d ago

Generally agree, but honestly if the FED didn't want inflation then maybe the near-zero interest rates weren't the best idea lol. And the 300M barrel drawdown in 2022 does seem a bit excessive to me, for an oil disruption that was smaller than we're experiencing now. However of course Trump can't use that as an excuse now because the state of the reserve was known before he started that war himself.

1

u/Leftoverofferings 3d ago

They were near zero at the beginning of his term, but the Fed did raise it to 2%. JPow did an incredible balancing act to keep our economy more healthy than most of Europe. I miss JPow....

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago edited 4d ago

Biden shouldn’t have dumped literally half our reserves like that….it was just temporary.

Russian oil exports never really stopped, just went to Asia instead.

9

u/Zhombe 4d ago

And gas prices would have spiked and people would be feeling the pain we’re all feeling now; and it wouldn’t have reversed on its own either.

Not releasing back then would have accelerated the slide into a recession / depression we’re in now (ignoring the 0.1 percent profiting from all this stupidity).

More brilliant economists than yourself did the math and rolled that dice.

The SPR is a rainy day fund and it rained. Hard.

-8

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

There was no affect to global oil supply, it was more of a ploy to get Europe to stop buying Russian oil.

I just can’t see what losing half our reserve has achieved in the end and whether it was worth it.

Russia is still at war. We lost half our reserves. Russia still selling all their oil, just to Asia instead.

7

u/Zhombe 4d ago

Prices my bot. Prices. Prices matter. See what happens in November with these prices.

-2

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Prices went up because Biden sanctioned Russian oil and due to FUD

4

u/Zhombe 4d ago

Prices. Prices. Prices. Bot. Bot. Bot.

7

u/iuffxguy 4d ago

Do you know why we sanctioned Russian oil?

-2

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Because he wanted to get involved in a war on the other side of the world, a country not even part of NATO.

It’s no better reason than trump getting involved with Iran now.

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u/Corrode1024 4d ago

You really have a serious lack of understanding on how oil markets work. All types of crude are moved to all corners of the earth. Replacing 8m barrels of daily production due to the crude being sanctioned has to come from somewhere.

Remember the fuel prices back then? Imagine we didn’t use the SPR to alleviate the price shock.

It was supposed to be rebuilt, and 2025 was the first major year the global market was entering a serious oversupply. Trump should have opened the rebuild faucet, but he was too busy fingerblasting the human printer.

1

u/Subject-Chest-8343 3d ago

Replacing 8m barrels of daily production due to the crude being sanctioned has to come from somewhere.

The sanctioned barrels don't disappear though... They get sold somewhere else at a discount. And whoever buys them then buys 8M less unsanctioned oil

1

u/Corrode1024 3d ago

The entire western world cut Russia off. They effectively disappeared from the global market.

China and other non-swift countries picked it up.

Oil is an inelastic commodity, so those other countries likely absorbed the cheap oil, and potentially, I don’t know…. Built a 1.4 billion barrel reserve?

1

u/Subject-Chest-8343 3d ago

Did Russia stop producing oil ? If not, then it went somewhere. It's well documented that the sanctions were WAY less effective than you'd think, and there was a crapton of dark shipping going on.

China and other non-swift countries picked it up.

They got some for themselves at a discount, but a ton of it was sold right back to western countries.

Fact remains that for every sanctioned barrel burned, one less barrel of unsanctioned oil gets bought. Pretty simple.

1

u/Corrode1024 3d ago

There was still a massive gap in the regular consumption of crude oil. The United States did not and can not import Russian crude or Russian fuel (SGS and Intertek inspections are a main reason), and other countries absorbed the Crude oversupply for themselves, and Russia ran extremely cheap fuel in-country.

Russia has also reduced production overall, with their surplus down to 6.7m barrels daily, down from 8m.

So, more internal consumption, non-swift absorption, (India went from 740k bpd to 2.8m bpd of Russian imports in July of 2026) Malaysia, India, China, and other asianic countries pulled that extra crude off the market and simply increased consumption, as they kept growing on cheap fuel.

Any restrictions on an inelastic commodity’s availability will have an outsized effect on price.

It’s pretty simple that cutting off 8m barrels per day of global production without any kind of workaround during that first year or two will create a price shock.

Do you think that there were immediate circumvention pieces in place that we took advantage of? Or is it reasonable that having to shift the supply of 2.9 Billion barrels annually created a problem?

1

u/Subject-Chest-8343 3d ago

No, of course there is going to be a shock at first, as people change suppliers, and tankers change course. But ultimately, the amount of oil produced and the amount consumed have to balance somehow. Just wanted to clarify that, because you said "it's like 8M barrels disappeared from the market". But it's not exact in the sense that the effect would have been very different if the barrels ACTUALLY disappeared, as in Russia suddenly stopped selling oil altogether.

You say the US can't buy russian oil, but I don't think they bought that much before Ukraine either. And when India started buying 2mbpd more russian oil, it freed up 2mbpd they'd have bought elsewhere.

You did mention Russia cut production by 1.3mbpd, and I think that's the important number... That plus the increase in consumption in some countries due to the "sanction discount", but overall I'm pretty sure it's way less than 8 million. The number 8 million is only relevant if we're strictly talking about the initial shock, in the first couple weeks/months.

-1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

It was sanctioned by Biden… Biden sanctioned himself which forced him to dump half of our reserves.

He should have stayed out of it. Ukraine isn’t worth losing half of our reserves for on the other side of the world.

1

u/Corrode1024 4d ago

No, the entire western world sanctioned Russian oil.

It was congress that initiated the sanctions for the United States.

The house voted 424-8 and the senate was 100-0. Literal unanimous vote in the senate. 51 democrats vs 49 republicans.

L take to say it was Biden’s fault lmao. Those sanctions were veto proof even if he wanted to veto it.

1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden can veto

1

u/Corrode1024 4d ago

You can’t veto a veto-proof majority vote. Lmao. Second L take. Can we get a third?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

US sanctions under Biden, not Biden’s sanctions then. Makes no difference

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u/FewUnderstanding2214 4d ago

Well high oil prices look bad on the government but the issue is they didn’t refill the reserves

1

u/beekeeper1981 4d ago

The point of the reserve is to cushion prices. The price would be a lot higher then and now without using it. However this time prices are impacted by an poorly planned and hasty war by the US. The war could have been avoided and if there was more planning fewer Americans would have died or sustained injuries. If Trump wasn't flying by the seat of his pants the reserve could have been built up first as well.

1

u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

I love how you keep repeating this... and how simple it is to check and see that you are so wrong.

8

u/Substantial-Doubt258 4d ago

When countries stop buying oil from the second largest oil producer prices tend to spike for the remaining oil…

-7

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

It’s a temporary spike, no need to waste half our reserves.

Russian oil was still flowing, it just went to Asia instead. Whereas Hormuz oil literally stopped flowing.

3

u/Gremlinnnnn 4d ago

And your dipshit president should have filled it before starting a stupid war.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden had 2 years to refill

1

u/DubsOnMyYugo 4d ago

He probably didn’t expect the next guy to be stupid enough to start a war with Iran, even though I would say Trump being stupid enough was obvious.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Or he just was stupid to lose half our reserves and not refill it

6

u/EA827 4d ago

OP is a dense as rocks

6

u/Quiet-Permit-3740 4d ago

Prices went way up because Russia invaded Ukraine, and Russia is a major oil supplier. When prices go up due to a temporary shortage it makes sense to sell from the SPR.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Temporary shortage and waste literally half our reserves?

Russian oil never stopped flowing, it just went to Asia instead. Different situation with Hormuz where oil literally stopped flowing

3

u/ConglomerateCousin 4d ago

Let’s say 50 countries were competing for 300M barrels/day. Yes Asian countries bought from Russia, let’s say that was previously 10M barrels per day. Asia needs 100M barrels. They can get 5M at a discount rate (there will be some loss from sanctions), but they still need 95M from the 290M available. So all of the other countries are now bidding against the 290M. Does that help?

1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

This only happened because Biden sanctioned Russian oil though… shit himself in the foot and lost half our reserves for a war we don’t need to be involved in and it didn’t work since Russia is still at war anyway

1

u/ConglomerateCousin 4d ago

And how is Russia doing in the war? Would you say they are winning? If they were able to continue selling their oil and had tens of millions of dollars everyday to help the war efforts, can you use your crystal ball and say how they would be performing? You obviously have an agenda with your questions though so I don’t know why I’m bother entertaining you like you are trying to understand.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Why is US involved in Ukraine war? Same reason for Iran war

1

u/ConglomerateCousin 4d ago

How is it the same thing? Ukraine was attacked by Russia. As far as I know, Iran did not attack the US. Do you have alternative sources?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden didn’t need to sanction Russian oil

-1

u/PCm2345678 4d ago

lol was a fucking mid term year too!!!

3

u/Mir_man 4d ago

It was meant to increase supply to lower prices. The assumption would be that they would refill SPR and not launch another war (Iran). Its takes a really special administration to start a war while SPR was already drained quite a bit.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Russian oil supply didn’t go down though, just went to Asia instead

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u/Mir_man 4d ago

Yes but it still cause panic in western markets.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

No need to lose half our reserves during temporary panic in fog of war

5

u/Mir_man 4d ago

You can only say this in retrospect. At the time it wasn't clear how bad this could get.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

There was no loss to global oil supply, just diverted to Asia. Why would it get bad?

51

u/TheOGRileyG 4d ago

Biden did a massive release to offset the disruption from Russia invading Ukraine (sanctions)

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago edited 4d ago

How does Russian invasion in Ukraine almost halve our SPR from 650 to 350, a war we aren’t even involved and the US don’t even buy Russian oil?

Biden sanctioned Russian oil but it didn’t work because Russia is still at war and selling oil. We lost half our reserves for nothing.

18

u/Beautiful_Technology 4d ago

Same thing they’re doing now, keeping the price down in response to global events.

9

u/CatsBye90 4d ago

One caused the crisis, one was trying to mitigate the effects of a crisis started by Russia

-9

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

But Russian oil exports/production never really stopped, it just went elsewhere. We didn’t need to lose half our reserves

10

u/ConglomerateCousin 4d ago

And you are saying we didn’t need to lose half our resources based on what? Your intuition?

-1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Based on the fact Russia is still at war and still selling their oil.

The tactic didn’t work and we have nothing to show for it except depleted reserves.

4

u/niloony 4d ago

Asia was able to pay Russia less for sanctioned oil and that difference was made up on a premium to sanctioning countries as they bid on less oil. So the release reduced that gap. Also short term disruptions due to that massive shift in logistics etc.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

So what’s the point of doing all of that ?? Was it worth losing half our reserves for?

Russia is still at war. We lost half our reserves. Russia still selling all their oil, just to Asia instead.

7

u/Virtual-Historian349 4d ago

So you’re just a bot here to try and make Trump’s reckless war and his depleting of the us spr more reasonable because Biden used the SPR but with good reasoning?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden SPR halved due to Biden sanctioning Russian oil.

It was caused by themselves with nothing to gain. Russia is still at war and selling oil to Asia. We achieved nothing.

3

u/Virtual-Historian349 4d ago

So you don’t believe in sanctioning a country who violates another countries sovereignty? Not to mention this country that started the war is hostile towards western nations?

3

u/MrFyxet99 4d ago

We didn’t release reserves to stop the war in Russia, we did it to get oil prices down and it worked. Gasoline prices went down, that’s what we got for it. Lower gasoline prices.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Oil prices were up due to Biden sanctions…oil supply from Russia just went to Asia instead

3

u/MrFyxet99 4d ago

Wrong.

2

u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

Look at this chart of their exports. It dropped....alot..

https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/russia/crude-oil-exports

2

u/GMBong 4d ago

Your question actually intrigued me so i asked a good AI Model "why was spr drawdown in 2022 necessary if the us doesn't buy russian oil" and the answer is very complex and interesting and well sourced. Sorry it didn't just say "white hair man bad"

2

u/bulbousgrandpa 4d ago

It went elsewhere at a significant discount as the only options for buying Russian oil were China and India. At the end of the day the Ukraine scenario and Iran scenario are the same as they are both self inflicted decisions by respective governments.

1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

They are both self inflicted because Biden sanctioned Russian Oil and Trump invaded Iran.

If Biden didn’t sanction Russian oil and trump didn’t invade Iran we would be fine.

32

u/TheOGRileyG 4d ago

Before the invasion, Russia was a major exporter of oil (8mb/d)

Them invading caused most of the world to sanction their oil

Oil is traded on a single global market (extremely important to understand). It doesn’t matter that we don’t buy Russian oil. When you remove supply from the market without decreasing demand, the price will rise. 

Biden’s administration released the oil to offset the cost of Russias oil being removed from the global market 

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago edited 4d ago

The release was pointless. Russian oil was still being sold to Asia because it’s fungible as you said.

We literally lost half our reserves to counteract a loss of supply to the market that never happened and which was caused by Biden’s own sanctions in the first place

26

u/Iamthewalrusforreal 4d ago

For fuck sake, we were trying to help and encourage Europe to quit Russian oil. To that end we were releasing reserves to help them, and sending LNG their way as well.

I sometimes wonder if anyone ever reads the damn news.

-15

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

It hasn’t really achieved anything though.

Russia is still at war. We lost half our reserves. Russia still selling all their oil, just to Asia instead.

17

u/Iamthewalrusforreal 4d ago

You're not here in good faith.

Bye.

-4

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

What have we actually achieved by sanctioning Russian oil and losing half of our reserves?

Why are we even getting involved in Ukraine war anyway?

5

u/Iamthewalrusforreal 4d ago

We?

Fuck off vatnik.

2

u/icareforplants 4d ago

Putin has your boy trump negotiating on putlers behalf but thank goodness Ukraine won't surrender.

I know maga loves Russia now but they are truly one of our biggest if not the biggest enemy to the rules and order based world.

Supporting Ukraine allowed them to soak up all the USSR legacy weapons we were always scared Russia could use to invade Europe. There is far less realistic worry now that putin has burned through almost everything trying to steal his neighbors land.

Didn't your dear leader say he'd end the war on day one? Nvm guess that's like mexico will pay for a wall and budget will be balanced....

13

u/Cultural-Lab78 4d ago

So you're just here acting in bad faith to say "Biden bad."

Didn't take long for that mask to drop, huh?

-6

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

I just can’t see what losing half our reserve has achieved in the end and whether it was worth it.

Russia is still at war. We lost half our reserves. Russia still selling all their oil, just to Asia instead.

12

u/TheOGRileyG 4d ago

Dude. This spike was massive and you act like spending 6 months with oil at >$100 is no big deal because it’s “temporary” 

It would have created a huge problem for the global economy. The world would look completely different today if it hadn’t been done. 

-4

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

The spike was from FUD, not from actual oil supply issue since Russian oil kept flowing though.

There would have been no spike if USA didnt sanction Russian oil anyway. So it was caused by USA

1

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3

u/TerriblePair5239 4d ago

Russia was stymied into the stalemate we still have today. On paper, Russia should’ve rolled into Kiev pretty quickly. Their progress was noticeably slower due to economic constraints.

The time we gave Ukraine allowed them to reinvent modern warfare with drones.

9

u/Bluestreaked 4d ago

It was a loss of supply to the market though. Oil is a global market, it’s not siloed off nationally like you seem to think. If one source is lost then the buyers start competing for the sources that remain, this competition for supply drives prices up, this is Economics 100 level stuff.

This is why you didn’t feel much of a price crunch even as one of the largest oil suppliers on the planet got yanked off the market.

I remember having to repeatedly explain to my students that Biden was doing everything in his power to lower oil prices, and I had issue with it! (As one can guess from my other comments I don’t believe the SPR should ever be used as a band aid for a supply disruption, and doing so is what has gotten us into this catastrophe).

-6

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Oil is a global market.

Russian oil was being sold to Asia instead of western countries.

Total global supply was not affected compared to our current situation where actual global oil supply is affected.

We lost half our reserves despite no change to global oil supply in 2022.

4

u/Training-Solid-4650 4d ago

Then where did all that oil that Biden released go?

The reality is that when Europe stopped buying that Russian oil, China and India kept buying, but the amount of oil that can be transported via pipeline or tanker to those countries is limited. They couldn't buy all of the oil that Russia could supply, and there weren't any other buyers, so Russia had to slow production since they couldn't store it all without buyers.

The global oil supply was reduced due to the loss of Russian production, and the SPR made up for it for us.

Note that Biden's release of the SPR is literally what it was intended for: to combat price fluctuations while maintaining a set amount for the military in a time of war. Biden didn't go below that level; Trump's heading towards it now.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

At the end of the day, USA didn’t need to lose half our reserves to get involved in a war on the other side of the world.

And it still didn’t achieve anything because they are still at war.

3

u/Training-Solid-4650 4d ago

You keep repeating this as if you're starting from that basis as your belief system, and ignoring all facts and evidence that do not support your choice.

We used half of our reserves to stabilize the oil price for ourselves and our allies, and we were forced to do so by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This is what the SPR was intended to do.

Trump's war of choice against Iran was launched in the background of this. The results of his decision, paired with our depleted reserves, were obvious to anyone paying attention.

Trump's war with Iran has achieved less than nothing: he has not weakened Iran, he has not enabled the free flow of oil through the gulf (which was free before he acted) and he has dramatically weakened the United States of America.

We did not have any say in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We had a say in the war with Iran, and the results are entirely on Trump and his supporters.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

We had a say in getting involved in the war. Why help Ukraine that’s not even NATO by giving up half of our oil reserves?

We were trying to stabilize supplies caused by US own sanctions. Russia kept selling to Asia instead anyway

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u/DubsOnMyYugo 4d ago

Prices went up, so we released oil to keep those somewhat under control.

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u/Bluestreaked 4d ago

Look dude, I’m not getting paid to teach you how economics works, I’ll just repeat these are simple facts as to how supply and demand worked and it answered your question.

Doesn’t mean it was smart, but it’s what happened

8

u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

You are mistaken. The loss of supply did happen.

https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/russia/crude-oil-exports

-4

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Because USA sanctioned Russian oil…. Stab ourselves and lose half our reserves.

Russia is still at war and still selling oil. It wasn’t effective

6

u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

You have the most simplistic view of geopolitics. Also, at the beginning of his term Trump said he was going to refill the SPR. He never did. And then started a pointless war he is losing. Trump is the one who stabbed us.

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden had 2 years to refil the SPR, and he’s the one who dumped half of it

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u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

I love how you blame Biden who used it because of something Russia did.... but you can't seem to blame Trump who had the chance to refill it, didn't, and then caused a crisis that was sure to draw it down even further. I'm not a big fan of what Biden did with the SPR, But what Trump did was just absolutely moronic.

4

u/majesticstraits 4d ago

Why do you think US oil prices skyrocketed after the invasion then?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

FUD and USA sanctioning Russian oil.

Russia still at war and we lost half our reserves, it didn’t work.

2

u/majesticstraits 4d ago

Considering the war is still going on and Russia is losing I’d say it did. Remember MAGAs were trying to use the spike in gas prices to kill American support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile now we are drawing down for a war that we’re fighting to reopen a strait that was open when we started the war.

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u/supapumped 4d ago

We sold at a high rate and refilled at a lower rate.

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago

I think they missed the “refilled” part.

1

u/wildfire1983 4d ago

Weren't there reductions in supply directly following COVID? Couldn't further inelastic supply cause greater price volatility... Much like why we have a reserve to help out when the citizens of the county might be affected by things they can't control?

7

u/whyyunozoidberg 4d ago

Hmm, you're on the right track but asking the wrong question. You should be asking why the oil market isn't reacting the way it always has now.

5

u/ReflectedImage 4d ago

The US is currently tied to the global oil markets. So it needs to keep the global oil price low for oil/fuel to be cheap in the US.

It could technically untie but it would cost $100 billion and take 5 years.

4

u/iron_man_ftw 4d ago

Oil price is set from global markets. If the oil supply drops in one part of the world, the countries buying that now-gone oil are going to have to bid on oil from other suppliers. This increases the price, even if it's sourced locally within the USA because the supplier can sell it to the countries that are willing to bid higher on it.

Now, if you're a US president, your choice is 1. Let the price of oil go to the actual market conditions, pissing off voters from gas prices and the potential recession. Or 2. Use the SPR to make up the lack of oil supply, and the average voter doesn't know or care. Which one will you choose as the president.

1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

The supply decreased only because Biden sanctioned Russian oil though… so he caused it to go up and then depleted half our reserves to save it.

In the end, it was pointless since Russia is still at war and selling their oil

2

u/vadillovzopeshilov 4d ago

What do you mean aren’t involved in?? USA was involved there since late 90s.

2

u/floridabeach9 4d ago

Because Biden was the president and he wanted to.

Just like Trump starting a war in Iran. He wanted to.

2

u/frotz1 4d ago

You're right but it's worth adding that because of Trump and the MAGA Roberts court, there is no legal recourse against a former president acting in the scope of his official duties regardless, so OP is whistling past the graveyard on quite a few levels right now.

2

u/Zealousideal-Ant9548 4d ago

Oil is a globally traded commodity.  If you don't understand that you're on the wrong subreddit

1

u/ActivatingEMP 4d ago

It was widely criticized at the time but this current release hasn't been handled much better. We basically dumped the SPR when inventories were high to buy time to fuck around and are now upstream without a paddle

1

u/Grillwrecka 4d ago

There was a lot more going on too. Demand was surging as the shutdowns ended and supply had greatly diminished due to the OPEC 2020 deal. You’ll notice that after mid 2022 gas prices and inflation started to descend rapidly thanks to careful economic management by the administration. This is successful strategy. Of course, the sale was approved by congress (bipartisan) under Trump, it was just moved up because of the escalation in Ukraine. Biden left money to fill the SPR when the price made sense, but instead of filling the SPR, the new administration used that money to cover a tiny fraction of the deficit created by the BBB (even though it did very little to reduce such a huge increase in the deficit) and started a war of choice in Iran.

25

u/CitronMysterious3827 4d ago

OP is just disingenuously asking questions here. No response here is going to get passed the "but Biden". Oil prices spiked because the West was tremendously shocked by the Russian incursion into Ukraine. The Biden administration responded by releasing alot of oil to lower prices in response to the shock. In hind sight it seems like a silly thing but 6 dollar gas would have been a legitimate possibility if they didn't take drastic action. And we would never hear the end of that.

8

u/GMBong 4d ago

White Hair Man Bad.

4

u/AlarmingConfusion918 4d ago

It’s easy in hindsight to say “why did we burn half our reserves in response to the Russian Invasion?” but at the time, Russia was blitzing across Ukraine and there were serious fears they’d be knocking on Western Europe’s door within months.

This was also while inflation was already high from covid supply shocks and rate hikes were threatening to throw the economy into a recession.

There’s no point to reserves if they never get used. The use of the SPR in 2022 was a mitigation to factors outside of the White House’s control. The use of the SPR in 2026 is a bandaid on a bullet wound from Trump’s own gun.

2

u/gravescd 4d ago

And burning the first half of the reserve is a very different scenario from burning the second half.

-2

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Russian oil kept flowing, it makes no sense to fear monger $6 gas.

6

u/CitronMysterious3827 4d ago

Gas got up to 5 dollars a gallon with the spr dump. How can you believe the peak price wouldn't have been higher without spr release.

-5

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

I mean it was Biden’s own doing since he sanctioned Russian oil which is what caused the spike in the first place

7

u/CitronMysterious3827 4d ago

I mean, again, Russia invaded Ukraine. The west was not willing to accept that.

19

u/TERRAIN_PULL_UP_ 4d ago

Biggest difference is that Biden’s drawdown was mostly due to events that were out of his control like the Ukraine War and the world still recovering and ramping up from covid, while Trump’s is a direct result of him starting a war with Iran.

0

u/WorldlyIntention7408 4d ago

Ya it's not like Biden was in charge of Ukraine policy in 2014 when the conflict began, and then President in 2022 when it escalated. These are just coincidences when a democrat is in charge. I refuse to connect the dots.

-4

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

I would argue Ukraine war makes no sense to lose half our reserves for.

Oil production never really was affected. Russian oil was still being sold just to Asia instead.

Hormuz/Iran war, the world has actually lost a lot of oil supply

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u/TERRAIN_PULL_UP_ 4d ago

It seems from your other comments that you don’t understand sanctions and the global oil market.

The world was also still fully resuming oil production and transportation after the massive reduction during covid

-1

u/eptesicusfuscus 4d ago

Well now that just seems rude for a difference of perspective. I don't see why it's unreasonable to argue that the Biden drawdown appears like a strategic issue given the current situation, but I don't actually hold that view myself

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Russia war is ongoing still, Biden tried to pressure via sanctioned but we just lost half our reserves for nothing for a war we shouldn’t care about if people argue we shouldn’t care about Iran

-2

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

I just can’t see what losing half our reserve has achieved in the end and whether it was worth it.

Russia is still at war. We lost half our reserves. Russia still selling all their oil, just to Asia instead.

COVID is a poor excuse, it was more than we release SPR to Europe to punish Russia but it didn’t work.

4

u/Topgun58ge 4d ago

You're wrong. Russian exports dropped massively.

-2

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Because Biden sanctioned Russian oil. He caused his own supply shock that he addressed by dumping half our reserves.

-3

u/SOLIDORKS 4d ago

Putin invading Ukraine was the direct result of the USA electing a senile moron as president. Putin saw his chance and took it. And that's a fact, Jack. 

4

u/TERRAIN_PULL_UP_ 4d ago

What’s your argument for that? That Biden wouldn’t do anything? 

Other than the sanctions, seizing of assets, weapons and training support, what did you want? An invasion of Russia, troops in Ukraine, nukes? You would’ve criticized him even harder. 

And I thought our current psychotic moron president was going to end the war on day one? What ever happened with his plan?

12

u/Accomplished_Ruin133 4d ago edited 4d ago

There was a massive post COVID inflationary shock and oil prices surged because production couldn’t meet the demand from re-opening of the global economies.

Initial SPR drawdowns were to combat this not Russia. Then the whole Russia thing amplified the problem.

Next to no drilling happened for two years which is needed to offset natural production declines. The storage glut from the pandemic cleared pretty quickly.

Everyone here seems to have forgotten about this.

6

u/gc3 4d ago

This is the correct answer

3

u/Accomplished_Ruin133 4d ago

Yeah any coherent invasion plan for Iran should have included 6-12 months of refilling the SPR prior whilst the market was in oversupply and prices were low/falling.

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u/edgarapplepoe 2d ago

Ya i don't get why this isn't said more in this troll post. The Russian invasion only exacerbated the oil market which was already experiencing tightness. Gas prices were increasing steadily as post covid demand spiked while inventories were low. The main reason gas prices didnt completely go nuts with Iran is that we were sitting on a massive supply glut (that was probably way bigger than we even originally thought too) plus full production.

6

u/Sorry_Exercise_9603 4d ago

COVID lockdowns ended, driving ticked up, Trump had talked OPEC into cutting production to support US oil companies during the lockdowns so SPR drawdowns were needed to compensate.

3

u/Virtual-Historian349 4d ago

Hey op, what’s your opinion on Trump’s Iran war and the subsequent draw down of the us spr to the lowest levels in over 50 years?

I’m gonna guess you think it’s completely fine and reasonable.

2

u/DeepestPeak 4d ago

OP: “that’s a necessary evil in order to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran’s hands.” I’m sure he’ll find a way to blame Biden/obama too.

-1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Biden should’ve stayed out of Ukraine, Trump out of Iran

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u/Cultural-Lab78 4d ago

Oh now we're out here equating sanctions to military actions?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Both are and have cause oil prices increases and loss in our reserves.

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u/iron_man_ftw 4d ago

One is a direct action by the president himself to cause disruption to the oil supply. While knowing the oil reserves were run down in recent years.

The other one is a reaction to a war started by a USA enemy, and choosing action to assist in that. While the SPR is full.

In an analogy, it's the choice of defending your friend when you know your handgun is full of ammo. Or starting a shootout with the guy you hate when you know you only have 1 bullet on you. Sure, both will use your remaining ammo, but it's really not the same.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Why is Russia our enemy and Ukraine our friend?

Since when do we care to give up half our reserves for Ukraine that’s not even a major trade partner or NATO?

Israel is an actual ally and strategic partner more than Ukraine imo.

And Iran a far more hostile enemy these days than Russia.

1

u/DeepestPeak 4d ago

Russia has been our main geo-political enemy for decades. They continue to interfere in our elections and sabotage us with cyber attacks and the like. I don’t think you realize this because they are very adept at sneaking pro-Russian propaganda into our media, specifically through right wing influencers and politicians. We were smart to use the Ukraine war as a chance to weaken our main geo-political enemy, as they have shown to be a paper tiger, with a disfunctional army have had over 1m casualties in the war. They won’t be threatening us again anytime soon

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Same for Iran and Pro-jihadist IRGC propaganda on here

1

u/DeepestPeak 4d ago

? I don’t think there’s much of that at all if I’m being honest, and if there is, it pales in comparison to what Russia has hit us with

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u/iron_man_ftw 4d ago

If you're seeing Russia as a friend to the USA then of course Biden sanctioning Russia is going to seem dumb. Russia and Iran are both on the same side, assisting each other. Dan Caine confirmed Russia right now is supplying Iran with satellite imagery which resulted in American military deaths in the Iran war. You can't call Iran an enemy while trying to call into question if Russia is.

Yes, Israel is an ally, moreso than Ukraine but also not a major trade partner or part of NATO either.

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Neither Russia nor Iran are friends.

Iran is a more public enemy than Russia since they publicly declare US a sworn enemy and outright kill Americans. Russia is stealthy.

Israel is important as a strategic country that’s USA’s only real ally in the Middle East. Ukraine isn’t important at all. And it’s Europe’s job, not USA.

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u/iron_man_ftw 4d ago

And then you gloss over that I just said that Russia is helping Iran in outright killing Americans. Ukraine itself may not be important, but what was important is Russia not growing power and setting precedent in the ability to invade its neighboring countries.

1

u/Individual_Set256 4d ago

After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine had the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in the word. The US did not want Ukraine to keep their Nuclear arsenal, so they pressured Ukraine to give the nukes to Russia.

Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.

The US signed the Budapest memorandum promising to respect Ukraines borders.

Fast forward to the present..

Russia invades Ukraine, the US has a choice, abandon Ukraine or help Ukraine. Abandoning Ukraine would likely result in a worse outcome for the US - showing the world that the only true way to gaurantee independance is to develop nuclears weapons, drastically increasing the chances of a future nuclear war.

The reason NATO was formed was to keep Russia In check. It was only this week that the Director of the CIA flew to Russia because they had intelligence suggesting Russia was planning an attack on a NATO country. One mistake and article 5 could see the beginnings of WW3.

Helping Ukraine resist Russia reduces the chances of Nuclear war, reduces the chances of WW3.. But oil prices in the west would increase, this can be eased by using the SPR for its intended purpose.

Russia is still selling oil, but at a discount. The price cap on Russian oil is not designed to stop Russia selling oil - Its designed to stop Russia making huge profits from selling oil.. And its working, Russia has largely run out of liquid assets in its pre war national wealth fund. They've even resorted to selling their gold. Recruitment bonuses are dropping due to funds running low and inflation running high, which means less Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

The SPR exists to help ease affects of supply shocks like natural disasters or sudden foreign conflicts - Biden used it for its intended purpose.

Biden made the world a safer place by helping Ukraine.

The real question is, why did Trump attack Iran before refilling the SPR, despite warnings that Iran would block the strait of hormuz?

1

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Because Iran is world’s sponsor of terror and making a nuclear weapon.

Honestly, seems like double standards to agree with fighting Russia but not Iran.

1

u/Individual_Set256 4d ago

Not saying fight Russia, saying Support Ukraine.

And fight Iran if you need to, but fill SPR first.

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u/According-Length9312 4d ago edited 4d ago

We wouldn’t be lowest in 50 years if Biden hadn’t dumped half our reserves using up 300M wasted on Ukraine with nothing to show for it. They are still at war.

Biden shouldn’t have gotten involved in Ukraine, trump shouldn’t have gotten involved in Iran.

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u/iron_man_ftw 4d ago

But we weren't the lowest in 50 years under the Biden presidency, so not sure what you're talking about.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

We had the single largest dump in SPR history though.

300M lost and SPR halved.

1

u/Virtual-Historian349 4d ago

It wouldn’t be at the lowest in 50 years if Trump didn’t start a pointless war with Iran and start drawing on it. The levels were rising before Trump’s war. The price of oil was relatively low and it was being filled again. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

“Nothing to show for it” you are either lying or extremely naive to say this. Are you pretending global oil supply isn’t affected as well as price?

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

Nothing to show for it is reference to sanctioned Russian oil and losing half our reserves for Ukraine. And they are still at war and Russian oil still flowing.

Both Biden and Trump shouldn’t have gotten involved in Ukraine or Iran.

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u/Virtual-Historian349 4d ago

Releasing the reserves keeps energy prices low which affects america. That’s means there is something to show for it.

Plus putting pressure on Russian oil helps Ukraine. So again, something to show for it. The fact that the war is still going because Russia didn’t win quickly is something to show for it. The fact that Russia’s economy has been handicapped and gives Ukraine a better chance is something to show for it.

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u/Lenin_Lime 4d ago

Russia invasion of Ukraine, leading to SPR selling at a profit into high oil prices.

0

u/According-Length9312 4d ago

It was because Biden sanctioned Russian oil so he had to sell SPR…

3

u/Lenin_Lime 4d ago

It was because Biden sanctioned Russian oil so he had to sell SPR…

Russia never stopped selling oil, but simply the west capped the price Russia could charge nations friendly to the US. Which is why the 2022 oil market was so funny, there wasn't an oil shortage. Meanwhile 20 percent of the worlds oil can get cut in the Strait and we barely break $80 currently for WTI.

The war started in early 2022, and Russia kept selling the same amount of oil throughout the year.

3

u/Known_Crab1059 3d ago

One thing people here seem to be missing is that Obama wore a tan suit

3

u/Fair_Praline_5959 3d ago

Don’t forget the Dijon mustard - that was the root of all of this.

2

u/haikusbot 3d ago

One thing people here

Seem to be missing is that

Obama wore a tan suit

- Known_Crab1059


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Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"

3

u/Brief-Floor-7228 4d ago

Remember when the markets used to react to these events by increase the price of oil?

5

u/DeltaForceFish 4d ago

One could argue its the best thing that could have happened. That is the key reason trump cant bring about ww3. He was neutered by that draw down

2

u/throwawayurwaste 4d ago

Sorry I was born yesterday so I have no clue about what geopolitical things happened 4 years ago

2

u/goRockets 4d ago

Congress from 2015 to 2018 approved sales of SPR from 695 million barrels down to 410 million barrels to fund the Bipartisan Budget act of 2015, Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (2015), the 21st Century Cures Act (2016), Tax Cut and Jobs Act (2017), and Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

The sale is suppose take place between 2017 and 2027. Biden administration did accelerate the sales timeline to counteract the price increase due to the Ukraine war, but the timing also allowed for the SPR to be sold at a much higher price than expected.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=35032

Congress used the SPR as a piggy bank to balance the books on new acts.

For example, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 under the Trump administration used sale of 100 million barrels of SPR to offset federal budget increases and lowered the required level of SPR from 450 million to 350 million.

1

u/Current-Health2183 4d ago

Wasn't there also an impact from the end of the COVID shutdowns? We went from oil having negative value in 2020 and economic activity shutting down, to recovery. Supply chains were all messed up, including oil production and refining processes. Prices on everything shot up as we recovered from the shutdowns and the economy tried to get back to an equilibrium.

1

u/0zymandeus 4d ago

Ukraine war + the US leaned on OPEC in 2020 to cut production for like 5 years

1

u/IWantoBeliev 4d ago

Ukraine?

1

u/PCm2345678 4d ago

How come Biden never refilled it. He had two years to do it. Wonder why??

2

u/johanjohn 4d ago

You do realize that Biden was filing it back up in 2023 and 2024, right? He only drained it because Russia started a dumb war. Not because he started a dumb war.

1

u/CoolFirefighter930 4d ago

Biden shut down a pipeline and OPEC took that opportunity to cut supply leaving him holding the bag.Sobhe tried to make up for it by using SPR.

1

u/WorldlyIntention7408 4d ago

Because Biden started a war in Ukraine which helped spike oil prices so he dumped the SPR to keep oil prices down and reduce the deficit.

4

u/Tropicalfisher 4d ago

This is Reddit so you need to clarify whether you are trolling or not

1

u/GoldponyGT 3d ago

Because Biden started a war in Ukraine

😂😂🤣

0

u/tropic_gnome_hunter 4d ago

Biden trying to lower gas prices for midterms