Iran war: Trump will release 172 million barrels of oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Wed, Mar 11 2026 4:34 PM EDT Updated 10 Min Ago


The U.S. will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower energy costs during the Iran war, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday evening. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump said earlier in the day that he would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to keep a lid on energy prices.

“We’ll do that, and then we’ll fill it up,” Trump said in an interview with Cincinnati broadcaster WKRC. “I filled it up once, and I’ll fill it up again, but right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” the president said.

Gasoline prices in the U.S. have risen to about $3.58 per gallon on average as the Iran war has triggered a massive disruption of global oil supplies, according to motorist group AAA. The current retail price is nearly 22% higher than the same period last month when gas cost about $2.94.

Trump’s comments come after the International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil to address the supply disruption. It is the largest release in the more than 50-year history of the IEA.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/11/iran-war-trump-oil-strategic-petroleum-reserve.html

[sheshe2]

1. I am confused here...he is or is he just blowing bs out his arse,

“I think what you’re hearing out of the IEA today is reasonable on their part, but clearly whether the U.S. participates is up to President Trump, he’ll make the final decision on that,”

[riversedge]

2. I have previously read that Trump did little to fill up these tanks--so now he has filled them up.

Maybe . Waiting to see some reports.

[ancianita]

3. All thanks to Biden. From a US Dept of Energy report: The Biden administration used a three-part replenishment strategy

to rebuild the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after record 2022 releases, securing nearly 200 million barrels through 2024–2026.

This involved direct purchases at an average price of under $76/barrel (lower than 2022 sales), exchanging barrels with industry premiums, and cancelling 140 million barrels of mandated by Congress.

The Biden administration negotiated with Congress to cancel 140 million barrels of mandated sales scheduled between FY24 and FY27, preventing further depletion of the reserve.

It was all about the timing of the strategy which aimed to stabilize supply following the 180 million barrel emergency release in 2022, which was a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-makes-final-purchase-strategic-petroleum-reserve-secures-200

[Tim S]

4. OR... Trump could stop US-based Petroleum Companies from PRICE GOUGING!!

The US extracts and manufactures more fuel than we use. We export our excessive to other nations, so blockades in the Middle East does not hinder our ability to obtain fuel.

Trump should force US Petroleum Companies to maintain pre-War pricing for US citizens instead of matching the world market pricing and the crisis is over. Funny how the MSM never brings up this war profiteering.

Why the HELL would we want to pull from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve when we aren’t experiencing any shortage or disruption???

Edit to ask: Where can I get stickers of Trump’s face along with the words “I did this!” and a pointing arrow? There are some gas pumps I’d like to place them on.

[Ford_Prefect]

6. Much of the oil produced by US wells is not suitable for some purposes including Gasoline.

Unlike that which is held in the Strategic reserve. US oil producers sell a significant part of their oil to overseas markets which CAN use it. US suppliers must sell on the international market.

The release of oil from the reserve affects both our costs and those of the world wide market by reducing domestic demand on those international resources.

[Tim S]

13. Thanks! Your reply spurred me to perform a search and I found this on Wikipedia ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_energy_independence

We’d have a shot at North American Energy Independence if Canada & Mexico could trust Trump (fat chance). Definitely not as cut & dry as many would expect.

Forbes also discussed the definition of energy independence as of 2023:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2024/07/01/us-energy-independence-set-new-record-in-2023/

[twodogsbarking]

15. An informed post. Thanks. It is more complicated than Trump could comprehend.

[Prairie Gates]

5. Desperate and embarrassing

If this was part of the plan it would have been done sooner.

They are reacting to events that they didn't anticipate or plan for.

Idiots.

[wiggs]

7. We are an oil exporting country correct?? So when our gas prices go up, it's because oil producers

are selling to the highest bidder on the open market rather than using here?

Possible to stop exporting and require use for US consumers? Or just let the oil companies take advantage of war and sell at highest global prices?

[catsudon]

14. it's not that simple

certain type of oil needs to be refined differently

we do produce more oil than people realized. but we can't process them all, so we do sell our sweet crude oil.

and we buy heavy oil from other countries to mix with our sweet crude to produce better gasoline.

i guess that's why now india is going to invest in texas to build a refinery to trade for access to Venezuela oil


ah i've been watching too much asian news channel at midnight.

[surfered]

8. That's 41% of current inventory. Not much wiggle room left.

[Hugin]

9. That's a around five days worth...

20+ million barrels a day as of 2023. 7.2 Billion (with a B) barrels annually. In the US.

[HipChick]

10. Scraping the barrel

[DallasNE]

11. Only Part Of The Story

Trump has been using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to hold gas prices down already and the reserve is currently low by historic standards. Further lowering can only be done on a limited basis. About all he can do now is to release enough to keep gas lines short, which is better than nothing, but we are not in a good position right now due to mismanagement.

[timms139]

12. Are Republicans going to

whine about this release like they did when Joe released some reserves ?

[Shermann]

17. Trump tapping the reserves is much more of a misstep

He's had over a year to plan for this attack on Iran and replenish the reserves ahead of time. It's a little late now.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. MaddowBlog-Trump and his allies pitch a new idea: Maybe higher gas prices aren't 'bad news'

We’ve reached the point at which the president wants consumers to be glad they’re paying more at the pump.

Trump, in late October: “With the Democrats, you’ll be paying , , and a Gallon.”

Trump, today, as gas prices approach the levels he warned about five months ago: “When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

If Dems are lucky, the White House will keep pushing this line.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-12T16:48:06.117Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-and-his-allies-pitch-a-new-idea-maybe-higher-gas-prices-arent-bad-news

It was against this backdrop that the Republican president rolled out a very different kind of message on Thursday morning. Just 17 weeks after he wrote, “Under President Trump, ME, Gasoline will come down to approximately $2 a Gallon,” Trump tried selling Americans on the opposite message.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump wrote.

Yes, we’ve reached the point at which the president wants consumers to be glad they’re paying more at the pump.

As a substantive matter, the problem with Trump’s claim is that the word “we” was doing a lot of work in his sentence. It’s true that the United States is producing a lot of oil, and it’s also true that higher prices help generate oil industry profits. But since the number of Americans who benefit from oil industry profits is very small, few will likely celebrate the hit to their wallets.

Complicating matters, Trump isn’t alone on this. Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration, downplayed the importance of rising gas prices in a podcast interview this week. And on Thursday morning, Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on Fox News and pushed a line that was eerily similar to the president’s: “Fortunately, the United States, we produce more oil than we can consume; we’re a net oil exporter. So overall for the U.S. economy, this isn’t bad news.”

This is a message that Republicans will continue to embrace in the coming weeks and months if Democrats are extremely lucky.