U.S. emergency oil reserve at lowest level since 1983

U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, has flagged different energy indicators in a post online to power up his notice that energy costs are high and petroleum reserves are low.

On Jan. 10, Luttrell tweeted, "Biden drained America's Strategic Petroleum Reserves to the lowest level since 1984."

That would mean the U.S. is at supply levels it has not seen in decades. Here’s a closer look at the numbers.

Luttrell's office pointed to a September Reuters article as his source. Reuters reported U.S. emergency oil reserves dropped to 434.1 million barrels, their lowest level since October 1984. 

The reserves were established in the 1970s to soften the effect of sudden oil supply reductions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Energy administration data on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s weekly stock of crude oil shows there were 371,580,000 barrels as of the week ended Jan. 6.

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The last time the reserve had 371 million barrels was in December 1983. Before that December, the reserve had fewer barrels. The earliest available energy administration reserve data is from 1982. 

Luttrell's statistic checks out.

So, why are there fewer barrels of reserve crude oil? In March, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a directive to release 1 million barrels of crude oil per day on average for six months, totaling 180 million barrels. The White House news release said the Biden administration’s record release of oil was intended to lower rising energy costs as Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted supply.

A July U.S. Treasury analysis suggested that the oil released, and the release of 60 million barrels coordinated by the International Energy Agency, might have lowered the price of gasoline by 17 cents to 42 cents per gallon. The White House highlighted this analysis in an October news release announcing the administration's efforts to strengthen energy security.

Luttrell said, "Biden drained America's Strategic Petroleum Reserves to the lowest level since 1984."

Available federal data supports his claim. We rated this True.

Correction: This article was changed to accurately include the IEA 's name, International Energy Agency. This change does not affect the ruling.