The United States has been tapping its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) with unprecedented frequency, and the wear-and-tear is pushing the aging system to its limits. In the past four years, the Biden and Trump administrations ordered releases totaling 352 million barrels, roughly half the reserve’s capacity, in an effort to cool soaring oil prices.

The 60 Gulf Coast salt caverns that hold the crude were never designed for such rapid drawdowns or refills, and federal researchers say they are now straining under the load. Equipment failures have become common; at one point a well ruptured, spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels.

Experts warn that continued heavy use, combined with decades of under‑investment, could leave future presidents unable to rely on the SPR as a strategic buffer, especially as geopolitical tensions keep energy markets volatile.