If we are under Trump’s proclaimed "Drill baby drill," why the hell are we so low in reserves?

30CAT · Aug 10, 2026

Trump doesn't get a free pass...Where is all the fuel he keeps bragging about?!

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks dropped by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million, reaching their lowest point since January 1983 amid Middle East supply strains.

www.foxbusiness.com

Gunny46 · Aug 10, 2026

30CAT said:
Trump doesn't get a free pass...Where is all the fuel he keeps bragging about?!

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks dropped by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million, reaching their lowest point since January 1983 amid Middle East supply strains.

www.foxbusiness.com

The best thing would be not to let Democrats shut it down to start with. Unfortunately it takes time to get them up and running.

Getting an oil rig up and running takes anywhere from 18 months to 5 years for a brand-new build and setup. However, if an existing land rig is simply being moved to a prepared drilling site, the physical assembly and start of drilling takes only a few days to a couple of weeks. [1, 2]
The total timeline depends heavily on whether the project is on land or out at sea.

Onland (Terrestrial) Rigs

- Moving and Setup: 3 to 7 days to truck components in and assemble the mast and substructure on a prepped pad.
- Drilling Phase: 2 to 8 weeks to bore the hole to target depth.
- Completion and Fracking: 2 to 6 weeks to cement casings and stimulate the well.
- Total New Site Process: 18 months to 3 years from initial permits and site prep to active commercial production. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Offshore Rigs

- Permitting and Planning: 1 to 3 years for environmental assessments and governmental approval.
- Construction and Assembly: 3 to 5 years to build the floating hull or platform and install specialized marine drilling packages.
- Installation and Commissioning: Several months to tow, anchor, hook up subsea infrastructure, and test safety systems before cutting the first rock.
- Explore a detailed breakdown of the construction phases from the Fenstermaker Blog.
- Read about standard drilling timelines from Investopedia.
- Review an on-the-ground phase timeline via Kingdom Exploration. [1, 2, 3]

Are you looking at an onland or offshore project, and are you interested in the permitting phase or the physical drilling phase?

Airport · Aug 10, 2026

30CAT said:
Trump doesn't get a free pass...Where is all the fuel he keeps bragging about?!

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks dropped by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million, reaching their lowest point since January 1983 amid Middle East supply strains.

www.foxbusiness.com

First, Biden drained it to lower gas prices due to the fact his policies were horrible but that’s what you get from liberal environmental wackos. Those reserves were filled with oil costing a lot less and right now, with oil high, it makes little sense to drive the cost of oil up even further. worldwide . Just the problem with electing liberals

30CAT · Aug 10, 2026

Gunny46 said:
The best thing would be not to let Democrats shut it down to start with. Unfortunately it takes time to get them up and running.

Getting an oil rig up and running takes anywhere from 18 months to 5 years for a brand-new build and setup. However, if an existing land rig is simply being moved to a prepared drilling site, the physical assembly and start of drilling takes only a few days to a couple of weeks. [1, 2]
The total timeline depends heavily on whether the project is on land or out at sea.

Onland (Terrestrial) Rigs

Moving and Setup: 3 to 7 days to truck components in and assemble the mast and substructure on a prepped pad.

Drilling Phase: 2 to 8 weeks to bore the hole to target depth.

Completion and Fracking: 2 to 6 weeks to cement casings and stimulate the well.

Total New Site Process: 18 months to 3 years from initial permits and site prep to active commercial production. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Offshore Rigs

Permitting and Planning: 1 to 3 years for environmental assessments and governmental approval.

Construction and Assembly: 3 to 5 years to build the floating hull or platform and install specialized marine drilling packages.

Installation and Commissioning: Several months to tow, anchor, hook up subsea infrastructure, and test safety systems before cutting the first rock.

Explore a detailed breakdown of the construction phases from the Fenstermaker Blog.

Read about standard drilling timelines from Investopedia.

Review an on-the-ground phase timeline via Kingdom Exploration. [1, 2, 3]

Are you looking at an onland or offshore project, and are you interested in the permitting phase or the physical drilling phase?

But what about our take in Venezuela oil? Also, Trump says we are the world's largest oil producer.

Gunny46 · Aug 10, 2026

30CAT said:
But what about our take in Venezuela oil? Also, Trump says we are the world's largest oil producer.

It takes time to build the infrastructure back up. Imagine how bad it would be without his two terms in office. Hence why I said it would be best to not elect anyone pushing the Green New Deal ever again.

DvlDog4WVU · Aug 11, 2026

30CAT said:
But what about our take in Venezuela oil? Also, Trump says we are the world's largest oil producer.

Hence why I keep saying that the Iran thing is a self inflicted gunshot wound. It’s literally offsetting all the other good because the situation is so bad. And it’s being handled so badly.

I don’t know if he wasn’t briefed on Iran’s ability to shut the strait down, if the people advising him were saying Iran would topple from the inside, or what the strategy they thought would happen never materialized. The fact is, Iran is weathering the storm of the US and maintaining power inside of its borders. The quick win he thought he’d get, never came.

The downside, oil remains high, and we’re unable to replenish the reserves because oil isn’t flowing through the straight. I’ve read estimates that even if the strait reopens to full production, we’re looking at 18 months of these prices before the markets recover and stabilize. This also means the Strategic Oil supply is going to remain low until prices come back down.

Now, for Iran, he either needs to go full send with nonstop bombing and hope that can make a dent without boots on the ground (he’ll not get the support for boots on the ground, even from his base), or, we need to withdraw. We’re unable to achieve the rest of our strategic objectives while we’re tangled up in this nonsense.

30CAT · Aug 11, 2026

DvlDog4WVU said:
Hence why I keep saying that the Iran thing is a self inflicted gunshot wound. It’s literally offsetting all the other good because the situation is so bad. And it’s being handled so badly.

I don’t know if he wasn’t briefed on Iran’s ability to shut the strait down, if the people advising him were saying Iran would topple from the inside, or what the strategy they thought would happen never materialized. The fact is, Iran is weathering the storm of the US and maintaining power inside of its borders. The quick win he thought he’d get, never came.

The downside, oil remains high, and we’re unable to replenish the reserves because oil isn’t flowing through the straight. I’ve read estimates that even if the strait reopens to full production, we’re looking at 18 months of these prices before the markets recover and stabilize. This also means the Strategic Oil supply is going to remain low until prices come back down.

Now, for Iran, he either needs to go full send with nonstop bombing and hope that can make a dent without boots on the ground (he’ll not get the support for boots on the ground, even from his base), or, we need to withdraw. We’re unable to achieve the rest of our strategic objectives while we’re tangled up in this nonsense.

But how long can Iran survive economically?

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

30CAT said:
But how long can Iran survive economically?

They can't and it's hurting their proxies too. As well as China. This has been going on for 47 years so anyone pretending it's self inflicted is being dishonest about the big picture. I warned it was coming years ago and if Harris was President gas would be double the price it is now. Our enemies get a vote in matters of war. Trump didn't want a war. But it was coming regardless who was President and he's definitely handling it better than previous Presidents.

DvlDog4WVU · Aug 11, 2026

30CAT said:
But how long can Iran survive economically?

As long as they need to. Castro held on since 59. Venezuela went how long? 10-15 years? We don’t have that kind of time and patience. It’s foolish to think we’re going to be able to pressure them to bend the knee.

We continue the sanctions and blockades, sure. The people will suffer, sure, but they’re executing dissidents at an alarming rate. That will continue for the regime to hold power. It’s not like they can be voted out. It’s not like the IRGC is just gonna “give up”. Internally, none of that is even close to happening. The Kurds didn’t ignite some revolution like we’d hoped.

The only thing they’re scared of is us destroying critical infrastructure and creating another failed state like Libya. That’s probably the move, but you’re talking a massive humanitarian crisis. Massive migration of refugees to Europe and basically Syria all over again. I’m not sure that’s a better alternative.

But, this isn’t gonna be some grand victory lap moment for the administration. This was a colossal fvxk up and whoever in the administration convinced Trump to do this should be shitcanned. We are at a cross roads, either full send or full withdraw. Running the string out on this can is just going to prolong the *** pain we’re paying at home and will likely be the root cause reason the right loses the majority at home.

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

DvlDog4WVU said:
As long as they need to. Castro held on since 59. Venezuela went how long? 10-15 years? We don’t have that kind of time and patience. It’s foolish to think we’re going to be able to pressure them to bend the knee.

We continue the sanctions and blockades, sure. The people will suffer, sure, but they’re executing dissidents at an alarming rate. That will continue for the regime to hold power. It’s not like they can be voted out. It’s not like the IRGC is just gonna “give up”. Internally, none of that is even close to happening. The Kurds didn’t ignite some revolution like we’d hoped.

The only thing they’re scared of is us destroying critical infrastructure and creating another failed state like Libya. That’s probably the move, but you’re talking a massive humanitarian crisis. Massive migration of refugees to Europe and basically Syria all over again. I’m not sure that’s a better alternative.

But, this isn’t gonna be some grand victory lap moment for the administration. This was a colossal fvxk up and whoever in the administration convinced Trump to do this should be shitcanned. We are at a cross roads, either full send or full withdraw. Running the string out on this can is just going to prolong the *** pain we’re paying at home and will likely be the root cause reason the right loses the majority at home.

So let them keep doing what they have for the past 47 years? FFS with the doomer attitude.

How about we just realize we are in a war and support the one administration that's narrowed down who the real problems are. That's Iran (Islamic Jihadist Socialist), the CCP, and the traitors here working with them. AKA as the New Democrat Party and Some RINO's and ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

JUST IN: It's just been revealed that Michigan Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed advocated for ABOLISHING the 2nd Amendment and stopping the use of FIREWORKS on July 4th CNN: "He floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care."

El-Sayed also said the border is NOT an important issue, and said football is linked to narratives that justify "slavery" This guy is an anti-American PSYCHOPATH. Elect Mike Rogers!

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

Kill the Leaders that keep playing games and let their regular Army know you got their backs if they want to do it and be more reasonable.

PRESIDENT TRUMP says that the Iranians will negotiate in private, IMMEDIATELY turn around, go public and claim the conversation NEVER HAPPENED "They're very devious negotiators because they'll agree to something. Then they'll go out and tell the press that they did not do it. They're very dishonest people!" "They've got 300% inflation. They have no value. Their currency has almost no value. They have, they're not paying their soldiers. Their soldiers are leaving. That's not sustainable!"

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

Gunny46 said:
So let them keep doing what they have for the past 47 years? FFS with the doomer attitude.

How about we just realize we are in a war and support the one administration that's narrowed down who the real problems are. That's Iran (Islamic Jihadist Socialist), the CCP, and the traitors here working with them. AKA as the New Democrat Party and Some RINO's and ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

JUST IN: It's just been revealed that Michigan Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed advocated for ABOLISHING the 2nd Amendment and stopping the use of FIREWORKS on July 4th CNN: "He floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care."

El-Sayed also said the border is NOT an important issue, and said football is linked to narratives that justify "slavery" This guy is an anti-American PSYCHOPATH. Elect Mike Rogers!

IT'S OFFICIAL: Ugandan Mamdani has been ordered to RESCIND the public database of "wealthy" people that own second homes in NYC by a judge JONATHAN TURLEY: "The rollout on this was just horrendous. Mamdani has succeeded in making Soviet central planners look like overachievers!" "I mean, they just listed hundreds of thousands of properties virtually arbitrarily!" "And they all these owners found themselves on this list. Many of them are saying, look, this is our only home or we don't fit the criteria." "The Mamdani administration just sort of shrugged and said, you know, we'll sort them out. The judge said that's not good enough!"

DvlDog4WVU · Aug 11, 2026

Gunny46 said:
So let them keep doing what they have for the past 47 years? FFS with the doomer attitude.

How about we just realize we are in a war and support the one administration that's narrowed down who the real problems are. That's Iran (Islamic Jihadist Socialist), the CCP, and the traitors here working with them. AKA as the New Democrat Party and Some RINO's and ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.

JUST IN: It's just been revealed that Michigan Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed advocated for ABOLISHING the 2nd Amendment and stopping the use of FIREWORKS on July 4th CNN: "He floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care."

El-Sayed also said the border is NOT an important issue, and said football is linked to narratives that justify "slavery" This guy is an anti-American PSYCHOPATH. Elect Mike Rogers!

How about we don’t commit the use of force unless we can reasonably predict and achieve the outcome. You don’t “recon by fire” in an otherwise understood proxy war where we’re removed from the regional affiliates.

Moreover, define the engagement criteria, the disengagement criteria, define success and understand how to achieve it. What you just posted reads like NeoCon justification for the mid 2000s Iraq. “uh, well, we’re here now, let’s just go all
In!” Jesus. What a dumb assertion to make on your part. Pull back and if Israel is concerned, or, our regional allies are concerned, let them commit their blood and treasure, or, let them be cucked by the IRGC. Iran ceases being a true threat to us and our assets as soon as we complete the withdraw from CENTCOM next month.

ChucktownWillie · Aug 11, 2026

DvlDog4WVU said:
Now, for Iran, he either needs to go full send with nonstop bombing and hope that can make a dent without boots on the ground (he’ll not get the support for boots on the ground, even from his base), or, we need to withdraw. We’re unable to achieve the rest of our strategic objectives while we’re tangled up in this nonsense.

Sounds like they don’t have the munitions at this stage to even pursue that option

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

DvlDog4WVU said:
How about we don’t commit the use of force unless we can reasonably predict and achieve the outcome. You don’t “recon by fire” in an otherwise understood proxy war where we’re removed from the regional affiliates.

Moreover, define the engagement criteria, the disengagement criteria, define success and understand how to achieve it. What you just posted reads like NeoCon justification for the mid 2000s Iraq. “uh, well, we’re here now, let’s just go all
In!” Jesus. What a dumb assertion to make on your part. Pull back and if Israel is concerned, or, our regional allies are concerned, let them commit their blood and treasure, or, let them be cucked by the IRGC. Iran ceases being a true threat to us and our assets as soon as we complete the withdraw from CENTCOM next month.

You sound like a igoofball at this point on the Subject. How Trump is handling it is the opposite of how NeoCons handled Iraq. Hence why it will take a little longer and why any boots on the ground would be Special Operations limited. When he lands a Hundred Thousand plus Troops on the ground then get back to me about NeoCons. The way he is handling it might not make politicians happy because of elections but they have been screwing up wars since WW2 ended.

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

ChucktownWillie said:
Sounds like they don’t have the munitions at this stage to even pursue that option

We have enough munitions to carpet bomb the entire Middle East if we wanted to.

ChucktownWillie · Aug 11, 2026

Gunny46 said:
We have enough munitions to carpet bomb the entire Middle East if we wanted to.

Not even remotely true but I don’t expect anything you share to be rooted in facts

DvlDog4WVU · Aug 11, 2026

ChucktownWillie said:
Sounds like they don’t have the munitions at this stage to even pursue that option

Bombs we have plenty of. Defensive munitions, based on the reporting, we have less of. But definitely enough to deal with this theater. Where it becomes a problem is the 2 theater war doctrinal requirement. We don’t have enough to defend the CENTCOM AO and PACOM AO should China get froggy with Taiwan.

Gunny46 · Aug 11, 2026

ChucktownWillie said:
Not even remotely true but I don’t expect anything you share to be rooted in facts

You're an idiot and we have plenty of munitions to drop on Iran. Will we need to replace some smart technology missiles? Sure. But we own the air space so we can drop the other stuff like M82/84 at will and there's nothing they could do about it.

WVUALLEN · Aug 12, 2026

30CAT said:
Trump doesn't get a free pass...Where is all the fuel he keeps bragging about?!

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks dropped by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million, reaching their lowest point since January 1983 amid Middle East supply strains.

www.foxbusiness.com

Like Someone here said Biden drank the US oil reserves. But Trump is being just as guilty.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) holds 298.7 million barrels of crude oil as of August 2026, dropping below 300 million barrels for the first time since January 1983. This emergency stockpile has been depleted due to federally authorized releases responding to supply disruptions from the war in Iran. Oil prices are trending sharply upward, driven by West Texas Intermediate (WTI) near $84 a barrel and Brent crude topping $90 a barrel. Prices jumped over 6% following renewed Middle East hostilities and a steep drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Spare Capacity Constraints. Relies heavily on de facto leader Saudi Arabia to act as a swing producer when global shortages happen.

High U.S. oil production—surging to record highs over 13.5 million barrels per day—transforms the nation from a vulnerable importer into a dominant swing producer. This output undercuts traditional cartel pricing power, buffers domestic inflation during global shocks, and shifts geopolitical leverage away from groups like OPEC toward American energy independence.

If we are under Trump’s proclaimed "Drill baby drill," why the hell are we so low in reserves?

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