Strategic oil reserve may serve a different purpose now than in the 1970s. Different circumstances today.

I'm remembering the 1970s when the US was very dependent on foreign oil. The Strategic Oil Reserve was seen as a way to keep fuel going incase we were cut off from unfriendly foreign suppliers; especially if we were at war and needed to keep the tanks and planes running.

Now it is a different situation since we produce most of the oil we use. We still use a huge amount, but we produce a huge amount also. The reserve seems to be used, these days, more as an attempt to stabilize prices.

Biden will get flack for this from some Republicans, probably. Seems like the circumstances have changed since the reserve was in the news in the 1970s, but the situation of us using lots of oil remains. We use even more now, but at least we have more of our own oil production than we did back in the late 1970s.

Maybe the government can make some money if it buys oil to fill the reserve when prices are low and sells when prices are high.