NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — North Dakota oil contributes to our Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

The reserves are the largest publicly known emergency supply in the world, with underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas having a capacity of 714 million barrels.

But over the last two years, the U.S. has been taking out petroleum to meet our energy needs.

In Monday’s Eye on Ag and Energy, what these reserves look like today.

Right now, we have just under 350 million barrels in our reserves. That means our reserves are more than half empty. During the Trump years, the U.S. sat at around 640 million barrels in our reserves, and we drilled more and have become energy independent. President Trump also bought oil from struggling oil producers in our country and used that to fill up our reserves too in 2020. This helped both our reserves and the oil companies, which were hurt by a standstill Covid economy.

Now, we’re drilling less and relying more on foreign oil. There is a focus on clean energy, but when it comes to gas and oil, we have not been producing like we have been in the past.
This month, the U.S. Department of Energy canceled a planned purchase of six million barrels for the strategic reserve, saying it wants to secure a good deal for taxpayers.

However, the Biden Administration says it remains committed to refilling the reserve, which President Biden tapped into last year in a bid to stop gasoline prices from rising.

“It does include all petroleum, so it includes crude oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel,” said Douglas MacIntyre, Deputy Director for the Office of Petroleum Reserves, “It even includes the favorite EIA product of petroleum coke. So, it includes anything you can possibly think of related to petroleum.”

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says she intends to refill the reserve, but she believes it will not be completed during President Biden’s current term, which ends in January 2025.