共和党参议员称2022年释放的1.8亿桶石油耗尽了战略石油储备，使其降至40年来最低水平
作者：亚历克斯·米勒
福克斯新闻
2026年3月11日美国东部时间上午6:00发布
福克斯独家首发： 一位资深参议院共和党人要求就拜登政府耗尽国家石油储备却几乎未予补充的原因作出解释。
来自阿肯色州的共和党参议员汤姆·科顿指控，拜登总统任内决定动用战略石油储备（SPR）的决策可能会产生连锁反应，因为美国仍在继续与伊朗作战，而伊朗政府继续控制着霍尔木兹海峡。
科顿在致能源部长克里斯·赖特的一封信中（该信首先被福克斯新闻数字版获得）指控，拜登政府2022年从国家储备中释放了1.8亿桶石油，”以在中期选举前压低汽油价格”。
[美国表示准备护航油轮通过霍尔木兹海峡，尽管交通流量减少但尚未启动任务]
来自阿肯色州的共和党参议员汤姆·科顿希望了解为何前总统乔·拜登在伊朗战争持续期间耗尽了国家石油储备却未予补充。（比尔·克拉克/国会投票公司通过盖蒂图片社）
科顿写道：”这一决定使储备降至40年来最低水平。动用战略石油储备的决定并非是对供应紧急情况的回应；这是一项蓄意的政治行动，旨在保护民主党人免受其自身失败的能源政策后果的影响。”
拜登曾两次动用该储备——2021年为缓解飙升的燃油价格，当时美国仍在努力应对新冠疫情的经济影响，次年又在俄乌战争爆发初期为抑制能源成本上涨而动用。
战略石油储备的容量超过7亿桶原油，但在之前政府的消耗后，目前储备量远低于此。
[舒默曾阻挠特朗普补充国家石油储备的行动，如今却希望打开储备]
乔·拜登总统2024年5月15日在华盛顿特区的活动中发表讲话。（美联社照片/苏珊·沃尔什）
根据能源部的数据，在拜登任期结束时，储备中约有4.15亿桶原油。
科顿表示，这”并非民主党人首次破坏储备”，并指出纽约州民主党参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默和国会民主党人曾在2020年特朗普试图用30亿美元（来自国会通过的庞大新冠刺激计划）补充储备时，阻止了这一行动，当时油价处于低位。
[能源部长称油轮在中东”最多几周内”恢复正常航行，结束石油供应激增]
能源部长克里斯·赖特本周在法国国际能源署发表讲话。（安娜·洛佩兹/盖蒂图片社）
科顿要求赖特解释，阻止这笔30亿美元的石油购买以及暂停油气租赁如何影响了本可用于补充战略石油储备的国内总体供应。
与此同时，随着伊朗战争升级，油价在上周末飙升至四年高位，国会民主党人要求特朗普动用战略石油储备。
[点击此处下载福克斯新闻应用程序]
舒默表示，该储备”正是为应对此类时刻而存在的”。
科顿称：”霍尔木兹海峡是全球最重要的石油运输咽喉要道，近年来约有20%的全球石油液体消费量通过这里运输。这正是为何战略石油储备必须被视为战略国家安全资产，而非政治工具。”
亚历克斯·米勒是福克斯新闻数字版报道美国参议院的撰稿人。
Tom Cotton puts Biden on notice while demanding answers on draining of nation’s oil stockpile
GOP senator says 180 million barrel release in 2022 drained Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 40-year low
By Alex Miller
Fox News
Published March 11, 2026 6:00am EDT
FIRST ON FOX: A top Senate Republican wants answers on why the Biden administration drained the nation’s oil stockpile but did little to replenish it.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., charged that decisions under President Joe Biden to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) could have a ripple effect as the U.S. continues its war with Iran and as the Iranian government continues its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Cotton, in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital to Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, charged that the Biden administration released 180 million barrels from the nation’s reserves in 2022 “to suppress gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.”
[US SIGNALS READINESS TO ESCORT TANKERS THROUGH HORMUZ AS TRAFFIC THINS BUT NO MISSION LAUNCHED]
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants answers on why the nation’s oil reserves were drained, but not refilled, by former President Joe Biden as the war in Iran continues.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“That decision drained the reserve to a 40-year low,” Cotton wrote. “The decision to drain the SPR was not a response to a supply emergency; it was a deliberate political act designed to protect Democrats from the consequences of their own failed energy policies.”
Biden tapped the reserve twice — once in 2021 to relieve soaring fuel prices as the nation still grappled with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and again the following year to combat increased energy costs at the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The SPR has capacity for over 700 million barrels of crude oil, but currently, the reserve has far less following the drawdown under the previous administration.
[SCHUMER ONCE BLOCKED TRUMP’S MOVE TO FILL THE NATION’S OIL RESERVES, NOW HE WANTS THEM OPENED]
President Joe Biden speaks during an event in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 2024.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
At the end of Biden’s term, the reserve had about 415 million barrels of crude on hand, according to data from the Department of Energy.
Cotton said that it wasn’t “the first time Democrats undermined the reserve” and noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and congressional Democrats blocked President Donald Trump’s bid to refill the SPR in 2020, when barrels were cheap, with $3 billion from a colossal COVID-19 stimulus package moving through Congress.
[TANKERS TO RESUME NORMAL MOVEMENT IN MIDDLE EAST IN ‘A FEW WEEKS’ AT WORST, ENERGY SEC SAYS, ENDING OIL SURGE]
Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at the International Energy Agency in France this week.(Ana Lopez/Getty Images)
Cotton demanded that Wright answer how blocking the $3 billion oil purchase and halting oil and gas leases impacted the nation’s overall domestic supplies that could have been used to replenish the SPR.
Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are demanding that Trump tap into the SPR after oil prices spiked to four-year highs over the weekend as the war in Iran intensifies.
[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP]
Schumer said that the reserve “exists for moments exactly like this.”
“The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil transit choke point, with roughly 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption moving through it in recent years,” Cotton said. “That is precisely why the SPR must be treated as a strategic national security asset, not a political tool.”
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
发表回复