The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is Low. Here's Why You Should Care

"Deep in the giant underground salt caverns of Louisiana and Texas, the U.S. government stores hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a special government oil stockpile that eventually gets refined into the things people rely on, like gasoline and diesel.

But now the reserve is low, threatening one of the few government levers to ease high gasoline prices.

Since the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran in late February causing an oil shipping logjam, the Trump administration has tapped into the stockpile multiple times in an effort to boost the country's fuel supplies."

Willa Rubin and Julia Simon report for NPR September 25, 2026.