Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Build Up the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to ‘100% Full’?

At no point in his presidency was there a sustained increase in our stockpile.

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In a statement released by Donald Trump, the former president claimed that “after 50 years of being virtually empty, [he] built up our oil reserves during my administration … to 100% full.”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is a government storage facility that houses barrels of crude oil for the government to sell in case of a shortage. The SPR is made up of four salt caverns across the Gulf of Mexico, and can hold up to 727 million barrels of crude oil. From 2001 to 2011, the stockpile increased steadily, but after plateauing for a few years, the number of barrels in the SPR began decreasing after Trump assumed office. On January 20, 2017—the day Trump was sworn into office—the SPR held 695.1 million barrels of crude oil. That number dropped throughout the Trump presidency, ending at 638.1 million barrels on January 15, 2021—Trump’s last full week as president.

In March 2020, Trump directed the Department of Energy to purchase 77 million barrels of crude oil to completely fill the SPR. Such a purchase, however, required congressional funding. The request was included in an early version COVID-19 relief legislation, but the $3 billion request did not make its way into the final draft of the bill that was passed into law, with Senate Democrats taking credit for its removal.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ Trump did not respond to a request for comment.”

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    Earl King

    From what I read, Democrats wouldn’t agree to spend the money. Ya, know that whole anti fossil fuel thing?

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  3. Paula Weber

    I'm sorry to be that person, but you have a typo here "The SPR is made up of four salt caverns across the Gulf of Mexico"... It should be four "sites" as it is some 60+ caverns.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    Of course, if Congress had funded it, they'd have bought oil when gas was going for around $2 a gallon. Selling it high is a good idea, but what Biden is doing will require refilling it at a higher price.

    Fill the reserve when prices are low, release when they are high, rinse, lather, repeat.

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      Matt A

      It was a good idea (by whatever admin official suggested it). Too bad those pesky rules and constitutional things got in the way again. If only he was good at making deals so Congress could make those ideas actual reality and not just fantasy reality.

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      Greenknight

      Not necessarily... using it now to keep prices down is the right move, and if it buys time for domestic producers to ramp up production and keep prices low, then it will be refilled at a lower cost than it was filled (remember, GWB doubled the size of the SPR when oil was over $150/barrel, it's highest price ever).

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        Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

        That assumes it can keep prices low. Good luck estimating that. I suspect August gas prices will be higher than what I paid at the pump over the weekend $3.77 a gallon. it's an empirical question.

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          J. Eric

          $4.59 in the city of subdued excitement

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    rlritt

    Omg. Trump lied about what he did in office. I find that so hard to believe. Why would a scumbag like him lie about how much better he is than the current President? Because there is a current trend in the media of maligning Biden who has, surprisingly turned out to be fairly competent President.

    I wonder if you all realize that if Trump becomes President, the USA will align with Russia and will never another election. The reason the population thinks Republicans should be in office is thanks to the media sensationalism. Advertise the few terrible Democrats and give Trump a platform.

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  6. jmh

    Aside from some of the obvious basics, facts-wise... perhaps one of the underpinnings of the circumstance, here, is mr trump's very unusual grammatical style in speaking and no less in _thinking_.
    I am pretty sure his mind set is: I made a directive, therefore it is so. Harkening to his regal perception of his tenure in the position of the Executive.

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      Matt A

      His worldview is definitely that saying something makes it real.

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    EricRemcon@gmail

    I would prefer that TD simply label all proclamations from 45 as “almost certainly false” (except if he actually comes out and says “of course I was trying to overturn a legitimate election”). The beauty is that this can be confidently done without even bothering to read them.

    Save the time and resources for more worthwhile causes, like researching cicada recipes in preparation for the coming onslaught sixteen years from now. Or maybe the business case for a Watching Paint Dry competitive league, complete with an injury report for an accurate Vegas betting line. 😅

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  8. Raincheck

    Trump said somehow that wasn’t true? In discussing his hole in one he made it clear he doesn’t brag, and I believe him.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Ok, so he asked, got nothing from congress in his stimulus bills, then only had a slight increase for a week, then it went back to normal…

    And he claims 100% credit.

    Bro, you gotta actually fill stuff up to top to make these claims.

    Stop jumping in front of the parade and pretending you were leading it all along.

    Trump being a doofus.

    Thank you for the fact check.

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    1. Gerald Cuesta

      The problem is that millions of voters believe what he says is gospel, and more reason to hate the people he hates.

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        Victor Clairmont

        I actually don’t believe this is as bad as most think.

        People don’t believe Trump as much as they are willing to defend him because they saw him as a middle finger to the establishment as well as someone who defended “them” so they continue to defend him.

        Millions don’t believe he had the “biggest crowd” for inauguration, or that he is the greatest president since “Lincoln “. A lot of it is tribalism and reactions.

        The major one we are trying to disabuse people of is the election fraud at the ballot box or statewide office (of 2020) , but if we get into a situation where like some democrats they still to this day believe Bush stole 2000, but they move on, we may just hit that block with 2020 and a portion of the Republican base believing 2020 was stolen but nothing else comes of it because the steam was finally let out or slowly died down over time.

        We will find out anyways I guess.

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        1. Gerald Cuesta

          I hope so. The difference here is that accusations of enemy of the people, pedophilia, liberals (or those who just know trump for what he is) being scum, have become the lexicon for millions of those that voted for the craphound and are taking root with supposedly mainstream gop politicians. The toxicity and ugly baseness of trump’s influence was always the greater danger he had presented. He broke something beyond policy - all in service to him and with millions of willing accomplices. His stench will linger for a long long time.

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            Victor Clairmont

            I don’t believe he broke it.

            It was already broken and he just made most of us realize it.

            The culture war, the border crisis, international pull back of the Western order, university problem, etc., all started long before Trump.

            Trump just found the dead body and declared it dead and acted accordingly to his terrible instincts. And for all our sakes I hope he was/is wrong.

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