Biden Taps Oil Reserve Again Three Weeks Before Midterms, Promises Refill at $70 (October 19, 2022)

“Good afternoon. Ready, get set, go? Well, good afternoon.” With that awkward opening, President Joe Biden announced on Oct. 19, 2022, that he was tapping the nation’s emergency oil stockpile again, releasing 15 million more barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve three weeks before the midterm elections.

Asked whether the move was about the election, Biden shot back: “Where have they been the last four months?” The video above shows him reaching the lectern for the remarks at the White House. Quotes are from the official White House transcript [1].

”Ready, Get Set, Go?”

Biden opened by taking credit for falling prices. “Thanks in part to those actions, the price of our gas has fallen 30 percent from the summer highs,” he said, then admitted, “But they’re not falling fast enough. Families are hurting” [1].

He announced three steps: another 15 million barrels from the reserve, a plan to refill it later, and a call on oil companies to “pass the savings on to consumers” [1]. He also said his team should “be prepared to look further — look for further releases in the months ahead if needed,” which he called a “Ready and Release” plan [1].

15 Million More Barrels

The release completed the 180 million barrels Biden had authorized in March, a drawdown that had already sent the reserve to its lowest level since 1984, CBS News reported [2]. It came after OPEC+ announced it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day [2]. And the 15 million barrels “would not cover even one full day’s use of oil in the U.S.,” according to the report [2].

Biden insisted there was plenty left. “Right now, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is more than half full, with about 400 million barrels of oil. That’s more than enough for any emergency drawdown,” he said [1].

The government’s own weekly figures show how far it had fallen. The reserve held about 638 million barrels in January 2021, when Biden took office, and about 405 million barrels the week before this announcement [3].

”Is It Politically Motivated?”

Reporters pressed Biden on the timing.

“What is your response to Republicans who say you are only doing this SPR release … to help Democrats in the midterms?” one asked [1].

“‘Where have they been the last four months?’ That’s my response,” Biden said. Asked again whether it was politically motivated “three weeks before the midterms,” he answered: “No, it’s not. … It’s not politically motivated at all” [1].

CBS News reported that the administration was rushing “to be seen as pulling out all the stops ahead of next month’s midterm elections” [2]. Two days later, Biden predicted “one more shift back to our side in the closing days,” as HYGO News reported from his October 21 remarks.

The $70 Refill Promise

Biden also promised to buy the oil back cheap. “The United States government is going to purchase oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when prices fall to $70 a barrel,” he said. “By selling from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the higher price of $90 earlier this year and then refilling it in the future at a lower price, around $70, it will actually make money for the taxpayers” [1].

The refill came in higher than that. By June 2024, the Energy Department said it had bought back 38.6 million barrels at an average price of $77.24 a barrel, compared with the roughly $95 a barrel the reserve’s oil sold for in 2022 [4]. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later garbled the refill price, as HYGO News detailed in its look at her “$70 per gallon” mistake.

”Not Stopped or Slowed” Production

Biden pushed back on critics who said he was choking off American oil. “My administration has not stopped or slowed U.S. oil production; quite the opposite,” he said. “In fact, we’re on track for record oil production in 2023” [1].

On that forecast, he turned out to be right: U.S. crude production averaged a record 12.9 million barrels a day in 2023, more than any country has ever produced, according to the Energy Information Administration [5]. But less than three weeks after this speech, Biden told a heckler at a New York rally, “No more drilling. There is no more drilling”.

By the Numbers

15 million barrels: the October 2022 release, the last piece of a 180 million-barrel drawdown [2].
638 million to 405 million barrels: the reserve’s level from January 2021 to mid-October 2022 [3].
346.8 million barrels: the low point, reached the week of July 7, 2023, the smallest reserve since 1983 [3].
$77.24: the average price of the Energy Department’s refill purchases as of June 2024, versus Biden’s $70 target [1][4].
12.9 million barrels a day: record U.S. crude output in 2023 [5].

What Happened Next

The reserve kept falling, then partly recovered. It bottomed out at about 346.8 million barrels in July 2023 and had climbed back to about 394.6 million barrels by Jan. 17, 2025, Biden’s last week in office, according to the Energy Information Administration [3]. That was still more than 240 million barrels below where it stood when he took office.

The refill came in small lots. The Energy Department was buying about 3 million barrels at a time in mid-2024, and it secured the cancellation of 140 million barrels of sales Congress had mandated for fiscal years 2024 through 2027 [4].

The reserve has been drawn down again since. EIA’s latest weekly figure, for Oct. 16, 2026, shows about 282.7 million barrels [3].