Just hours before oil prices hit $100 per barrel amid the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, the Senate’s top Democrat called on President Trump to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
“The instability created by Trump in this war is already hitting families in their wallets,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said Sunday. “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for moments just like this.”
The Bayou Choctaw storage site — located in Iberville Parish, Louisiana — is one of four sites that have a combined authorized storage capacity of 714 million oil barrels, through the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (Photo: Dept. of Energy)
The U.S. has only authorized emergency releases from the SPR on four occasions. The last one was in 2022 under the Biden administration, to address supply disruptions after Russia invaded Ukraine. It was also the last time oil and gas prices topped the $100 mark.
The average price for a gallon of gas nationwide Sunday was up to $3.45 a gallon for regular unleaded, AAA said, up more than 46 cents in a week.
Schumer cited recent spikes in gas prices locally as well. AAA reported that Sunday’s current average for gas prices in New York City reached $3.44 a gallon for regular unleaded, up from $3.00 one week ago. On Long Island, Sunday’s average was $3.31 a gallon, up from $2.89 per gallon one week earlier. In New Jersey, the average Sunday was $3.31 a gallon, up more than 40 cents from the week prior, AAA said.
“But Trump, instead of using this tool, which so many other presidents have used to lower prices at the pump — he’s saying the market will heal very quickly,” Schumer told reporters at his Midtown office. Addressing the president directly, Schumer urged him to “listen to your average driver who’s paying 40 cents more a gallon, that ‘prices are healing very quickly.’ Listen to your truck driver, who drives a truck for a living, who has said, if the price keeps going up, you may go out of business. And you say, oh, ‘they’ll heal very quickly.'”
On his social media site Sunday, President Trump defended his policies amid the oil surge, writing: “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday that “we’re more than happy to use (the Reserve) if it’s needed,” but added “it’s a logistics issue.”
“Where do they need oil? They need oil at refineries in Europe and in Asia. And that’s why we took a very pragmatic step. There’s over 100 million barrels of floating Russian crude waiting in line to deliver to China,” Wright said.
The Treasury Dept. is granting waivers for companies to start buying sanctioned Russian oil stored on tankers, according to CNBC.
Oil rose again after a record 35% jump last week.
NBC News contributed to this report.
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