By the end of the year, Biden will have purged 275 million barrels of oil from the reserve, which has an authorized capacity of 714 million. According to the Department of Energy, the reserve now holds less than 400 million barrels of petroleum, marking its lowest level since 1984. The emergency petroleum reserve, established in the 1970s to prepare the U.S. for a sudden and severe disruption in supply such as a hurricane hampering gulf coast refineries, has been transformed into the president’s personal oil bank to cash in on for political capital. //

Pyle prescribed a legislative fix to the issue as the administration empties the petroleum reserve to save face as the midterms draw near.

“Congress needs to step in and put binders on the administration and make it very specific about what types of uses the releases are for,” Pyle said.

House Republicans have repeatedly sought to intervene. In June, Democrats blocked for the seventh time Republicans’ “American Energy Independence from Russia Act,” which would have placed restrictions on White House use of the emergency petroleum reserve. The legislation would require the president to submit an energy security plan within a month of tapping the emergency stockpile and require the energy secretary to develop plans for replenishment. //

Congressional Republicans tried to restock the oil reserve in the early months of 2020 when the industry was on the brink of collapse from Covid-19 lockdowns. At the time, oil prices had plummeted, and it could be purchased in bulk at a bargain. Democrats, however, obstructed the effort, and now the Biden administration is forced to deal with replenishing millions more barrels at a far higher price. When the Trump administration looked to refill the reserve, oil was trading at less than $24 per barrel. Today, Biden is facing prices between $67 and $72 per barrel, about three times as much as oil cost just two years ago.