Two Texas lawmakers are seeking a comprehensive review of the nation’s aging Strategic Petroleum Reserve as the emergency oil stockpile sits at its lowest level since the early 1980s.
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Houston Democrat, and Rep. August Pfluger, a San Angelo Republican whose district includes much of the Permian Basin, introduced the 21st Century Strategic Petroleum Reserve Act on September 3.
The bipartisan bill would direct the U.S. Secretary of Energy to request a public report examining how to modernize the reserve’s infrastructure, storage system, and operating procedures.
“Energy security is essential to national security,” Fletcher said in a press release announcing the legislation.
Reserve Falls To 286.6 Million Barrels
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve contained 286.6 million barrels of crude oil during the week ending August 28, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration report.
That was 3.1 million barrels below the previous week and 118.1 million barrels below the same period in 2025, representing a year-over-year decline of approximately 29%.
The Department of Energy lists the reserve’s authorized storage capacity at 714 million barrels, meaning the latest inventory equals roughly 40% of that capacity.
The reserve consists of four federally operated storage sites along the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Oil is held in 61 underground caverns carved into natural salt domes, according to the department’s SPR overview.
The reserve reached its record inventory of 726.6 million barrels in December 2009. Its first shipment arrived in 1977 after Congress created the system in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo.
What The Bill Would Require
The legislation, designated H.R. 10262, would not immediately expand the reserve or appropriate money for construction.
Instead, it would require the energy secretary, within 90 days of the measure becoming law, to ask the National Petroleum Council to conduct a modernization study. The council would then have one year to submit its findings to the Energy Department and Congress and make the report available to the public.
The bill’s text directs the council to examine several potential changes, including:
- Expanding the reserve’s geographic distribution and storage capacity
- Adding storage for refined petroleum products
- Improving the speed at which oil can enter or leave the reserve
- Strengthening storage facilities to withstand frequent drawdowns
- Encouraging purchases to replenish the reserve when oil prices are low
- Evaluating whether congressionally mandated petroleum sales should be eliminated
The study would also review the reserve’s Life Extension II infrastructure project, including work that was planned but not completed.
Those provisions are subjects for analysis rather than changes the bill would impose directly.
Lawmakers Cite Aging Infrastructure And Global Threats
Pfluger said the reserve has protected the United States from energy disruptions and national security threats for nearly five decades but lacks a clear plan for its future.
“We can’t afford to ignore this issue as our adversaries are quietly building up their energy reserves,” Pfluger said in his announcement.
Fletcher’s office linked the proposal to two major drawdowns during the past four years: the 180-million-barrel emergency release following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and releases associated with the ongoing conflict involving Iran and disruptions to global energy markets.
Fletcher said the reserve is “stretched thinner than it has been in 40 years” and called the study a first step toward ensuring it can meet future emergencies.
Texas Sites Play Central Role
Texas houses two of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites: Bryan Mound near Freeport and Big Hill near Winnie. The remaining sites are in Louisiana.
The facilities’ Gulf Coast locations place them near major refineries, pipelines, and marine terminals, but concentrating all four sites in one region is among the issues the proposed study would examine.
The measure would also consider refined-fuel storage. The current reserve stores crude oil, which generally must be transported to a refinery and processed before reaching consumers as gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.
The Department of Energy says oil released from the reserve can begin entering the market approximately 13 days after a presidential decision. Its maximum nominal drawdown capability is 4.4 million barrels per day.
Bill Remains At Beginning Of Legislative Process
H.R. 10262 was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce after its introduction, according to the official congressional record. It has not passed the committee or either chamber of Congress.
The proposal arrives as the Trump administration discusses rebuilding the reserve.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, President Donald Trump said oil eventually produced under a new U.S.-Venezuela agreement could help refill the stockpile. The timing and volume of any oil reaching the reserve through that arrangement remain uncertain.
Regardless of the source of future purchases, the Texas lawmakers argue that adding oil alone will not address the reserve’s aging infrastructure or determine whether a Gulf Coast storage system designed nearly 50 years ago can meet modern national security needs.
Provided by Dallas Express
