1- The Biden Administration has the right to refill the SPR as it sees fit… but to flip the story and say we sold the oil at $96 and now we are buying it in the low $70s, therefore we are making money for the taxpayer is the worst story they can tell about the SPR.
2- from an accounting point of view, adjusted for inflation, the SPR oil that was sold at $96 in today’s dollars was sold at a very large loss. Some of the oil was sold at 40 cents on the dollar.
3- The most important stories of the SPR are:
A. it prevented oil prices from going above $140/b
B. then it lowered prices significantly worldwide, not only in the US.
Now count the economic growth benefits from that
C. It curbed Putin’s influence significantly
4- The benefits to the world could be in trillions of dollars once we look at the multiplier effect. Who cares about a gain of about $80 million?