As tensions with Iran rattle global energy markets, a leading Senate Republican is demanding answers about why the United States’ emergency oil stockpile was dramatically depleted during the Biden administration without being fully replenished.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is pressing the Department of Energy for details about decisions that significantly reduced the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), warning that those moves could now carry serious consequences as conflict in the Middle East threatens global oil supplies.
In a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Cotton argued that the Biden administration’s massive drawdown of the reserve in 2022 was politically motivated rather than driven by a genuine energy emergency.
According to Cotton, the administration released roughly 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR in 2022 in an effort to lower gasoline prices ahead of the midterm elections.
“That decision drained the reserve to a 40-year low,” Cotton wrote. “The decision to drain the SPR was not a response to a supply emergency; it was a deliberate political act designed to protect Democrats from the consequences of their own failed energy policies.”
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency crude oil supply in the world, was created to protect the United States against severe supply disruptions. The facility has the capacity to hold more than 700 million barrels of crude oil. However, after the Biden administration’s withdrawals, the stockpile was left significantly depleted.
BREAKING: The Biden regime drained our petroleum reserves to try & help Democrats win the 2022 midterms.
They drained the reserves so fast that it actually damaged our system.
The cost to repair this…. $100 MILLION pic.twitter.com/mmB8LAIQQa
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) May 9, 2025
BREAKING: The Biden regime drained our petroleum reserves to try & help Democrats win the 2022 midterms.Data from the Department of Energy shows that by the end of Biden’s presidency, the reserve contained about 415 million barrels of oil.
The Biden administration tapped the SPR twice during his presidency. The first release occurred in 2021 as gasoline prices surged during the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The second came in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global energy prices soaring.
Cotton argued that the depletion of the reserve was compounded by other energy policies that he believes restricted domestic production.
He pointed to a 2021 executive order signed by Biden that halted new oil and gas leases on federal lands and offshore areas, a move Cotton said limited potential domestic supply even as the administration was drawing heavily from the reserve.
Cotton also highlighted earlier actions by congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who blocked an effort by President Donald Trump in 2020 to purchase roughly $3 billion worth of oil to refill the SPR while prices were historically low.
Cotton said those combined decisions weakened the nation’s energy security.
Meanwhile, Democrats are now calling on the Trump administration to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve again after oil prices surged to four-year highs amid escalating tensions with Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
The narrow waterway is one of the world’s most critical oil transit routes. Roughly 20 percent of global petroleum liquids consumption passes through the strait, making it a major choke point in the global energy market.
Cotton emphasized that the reserve must be treated as a national security safeguard rather than a political tool.
“The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil transit choke point, with roughly 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption moving through it in recent years,” Cotton wrote. “That is precisely why the SPR must be treated as a strategic national security asset, not a political tool.”
