SPR drawdown might not be enough for consumers, Democrats say

President Donald Trump’s decision to draw crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve received little criticism on Capitol Hill Thursday, although Democrats expressed reservations that it would not do much to insulate Americans from global price volatility resulting from the war in Iran.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. said in an interview that consumers will still “feel huge impacts with respect to gasoline prices” even with the drawdown.

“The scale of what’s going on in the Middle East almost negates our ability to use [the SPR] in a way that’s meaningful,” Heinrich said. “So when you take 20 percent of the world’s oil supply offline, even something as large as what they’re pursuing with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve doesn’t begin to fill the gap.”