Experts: Tapping Into Nation’s SPR is “Dangerous”

(KNSI) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced a notice of sale of as much as 15 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to lower gas prices.

Energy experts like Bruce Bullock with the Maguire Energy Institute say tapping into the SPR to lower gas prices is short-sighted and dangerous. “The short-term effects are going to be to keep prices from rising very much from now until the end of the year.”

He says geopolitical pressure from overseas will cause a “fairly significant rise in prices from about Christmastime on. This, unfortunately I don’t think goes long enough to forestall that.”

While the federal government believes tapping the nation’s strategic oil reserves is a way to moderate gas prices, Bullock says OPEC is more likely to cut production because they know there’s nothing the United States can do to mitigate it. He says that will likely lead to higher gas prices in the future.

According to the Energy Information Administration, as of October 14th, 2022, the SPR held 405 million barrels of crude oil, the lowest inventory level the SPR has held since June 1984.

Around St. Cloud, gas is around $3.48. A month ago, gas was $3.58. Two years ago, the national average gas prices were around $2.17, and the U.S. was a net energy exporter.

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