What is the energy outlook for the country?
It seems a bit brighter than since January 2025, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” and directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to prioritize refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to its full capacity, which is approximately 714 million barrels.
At the time, the reserve held around 394 million barrels-about 55% of capacity-after historic drawdowns during the Biden administration. As a reminder, in April of 2024, Biden’s administration refused to purchase the oil to refill it.
However, the nation is still facing some issues related to Biden’s destructive and senseless energy priorities.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently estimated it would take $20 billion and years to accomplish Trump’s goal of refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its maximum capacity.
It will take years to refill the reserve, the spokesperson said, and a request that size to Congress is not something the department would do immediately in one request given the other budget concerns of the department, which also manages the nation’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.The SPR is the world’s largest emergency crude oil stockpile with capacity to store about 727 million barrels and currently holds about 395 million barrels. The estimated $20 billion would only be enough to buy about 301 million barrels of U.S. crude at today’s prices, and would bring the reserve to less than 700 million barrels.Wright had told Bloomberg News in an interview he was seeking $20 billion which would restore holdings “just close to the top.”
Refilling the SPR faces an additional challenge. During a CNBC interview on “Power Lunch,” Wright explained that the reserve had been drained so quickly that the facilities were damaged.
“We are refilling the reserve now. We will continue to refill the reserve the whole time I’m in office.”That was just such an irresponsible action, to drain that reserve so quickly for electoral reasons.”And in fact, it was drained so fast, it did some damage to the facilities. And so, right now, we only can fill two of the four major salt caverns we have, so we are doing repair work on the other two.”We’re slowly filling the other two, and I’m trying to get some funds through Congress that’ll give us a longer-term runway to fill the strategic petroleum reserve at the fastest rate we can.”
Meanwhile, the refilling process will likely be helped along with an assist from the Interior Department, which s helping to increase oil production in the Gulf of America by 100,000 barrels per day.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that all offshore oil drilling in the Gulf will now be able to tap multiple reservoirs at the same time — and at far higher pressure than previously allowed — to immediately boost output by around 10%.The department cited a September 2023 study from the University of Texas that found that over the next 30 years, up to 61% more oil can be produced than currently.“This is a monumental milestone in achieving American energy dominance,” Burgum said in a statement.“We’re delivering more American energy, more efficiently, and with fewer regulatory roadblocks. That means lower costs, more jobs, and greater security for American families and businesses as President Trump promised.”
So, our energy situation is brightening…and appears to be much better than “Net Zero” Europe is currently experiencing.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY