MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump releases 172 million barrels from strategic reserve to curb fuel price surge

The U.S. release is part of a broader package agreed by the IEA’s 32 member countries, which decided to make 400 million barrels of oil available from emergency reserves

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the release of 172 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a coordinated action with the International Energy Agency, in a bid to contain rising fuel prices after market disruption caused by the war with Iran. The Department of Energy said deliveries will begin next week and will take about 120 days to complete.

The move marks a reversal from Trump’s position just days earlier. On March 5, the president had downplayed the rise in gasoline prices and resisted tapping the reserve, while White House aides were exploring other options to limit the political fallout from higher energy costs.

The shift came as gasoline prices kept climbing. The U.S. national average had moved above $3.50 a gallon, its highest since May 2024, and later the same day said the average had risen to $3.58 after a nearly 60-cent increase since joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began on Feb. 28.

The U.S. release is part of a broader package agreed by the IEA’s 32 member countries, which decided to make 400 million barrels of oil available from emergency reserves. The agency described it as the largest coordinated stock release in its history and directly linked it to market disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. share of that operation would be 172 million barrels. The measure is intended to ease pressure on oil prices that have surged because of risks to global supply.

The White House is therefore trying to soften a politically sensitive issue for consumers and for Trump himself in an election year. Fuel prices had become a political problem for the administration, with internal warnings about the electoral cost of a prolonged price spike.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 395.3 million barrels before this new drawdown, far below its historical capacity after heavy use in 2022 during the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reuters noted that the largest previous release was the 180 million-barrel draw ordered by Joe Biden in 2022.