Listen
Like many Americans, 79-year-old Elester Andrews is feeling the pinch of rising gas prices amidst the United States and Israel’s war with Iran.
Andrews, who drove down from Houston to Freeport to fish on a recent Friday, said it costs about $60 to completely fill up the tank of the 2016 silver Chevy Colorado pickup truck he's been driving for about a decade.
"That's when you really feel the pinch, but it's just a psychological thing for me," said Andrews, who's taken to filling up his gas tank when it reaches half empty.
The Trump administration recently announced that it would release 172 million barrels of oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower oil prices amidst the war with Iran.
It's part of a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency, a coalition of 32 countries.
Two of the United States' four reserve sites are in Texas, including a location in Freeport, just down the road from where Andrews likes to fish.
A large SUV, with a security guard inside, blocks the entrance to this particular reserve. It's surrounded by a tall fence, topped with rolls of barbed wire.
The oil here — and at other reserve sites – is stored in large underground salt caverns.
"Salt is a great way to contain things because oil does not flow past the salt," said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a petroleum engineering professor and the vice president for energy and innovation at the University of Houston.
Krishnamoorti said the reserve is located along the Gulf Coast, in part because of these naturally occurring salt caverns across Louisiana and East Texas. He says it's common for companies to store not only oil, but also natural gas and hydrogen in salt caverns.
"All kinds of liquids and gases are stored subsurface that way," Krishnamoorti said.
The reserve sites are also close to many refineries as Texas is home to a third of the nation's crude oil refining capacity. And the locations are also close to Texas oil fields, Krishnamoorti said.
"You can take that oil and without necessarily having to move it very large distances, you can actually end up storing it and then as needed, pump it out and send it to the refineries to make gasoline, diesel, jet fuel," Krishnamoorti said.
Impact of the reserve
Then-U.S. President Gerald Ford founded the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 after the nation faced an oil embargo from Arab countries, leading to a recession.
Currently, the reserve stores 415 million barrels, or about 57% of its total capacity. That's enough to sustain U.S. petroleum consumption for about 20 days.
The last time the U.S. drew from the reserve wasin 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The administration of President Donald Trump has promised to add 200 million barrels to the reserve within the next year.
While the administration hopes to drive down energy prices through the release, it may not have much of an impact on oil costs in the long term, said Robert Weiner, an international business professor at George Washington University.
"In the longer run, there is no substitute for reopening the Strait of Hormuz," he said.
Meanwhile, in Texas, oil producers may be hesitant to ramp up their production right now, Weiner said.
"Oil prices will have to look like they’re going to be high for a while," he said. "Otherwise, the Texas oil companies have already said that they're not going to drill more."
Late last year, the Department of Energy predicted that oil prices wouldremain lowin the first quarter of the year – predicting a Brent crude oil price at about $55 per barrel on average. The price per barrel hassurgedto more than $100 at times since the start of the war with Iran.
Dallas oilman Jay Young, the CEO of King Operating Corporation, an independent oil and gas operating company,said he believes the release from the reserve won't have much of an impact on oil prices. While he doesn't think they'll remain in the triple digits in the long run, Young said he believes prices will stabilize at a higher level than earlier this year, potentially pushing oil companies to operate more rigs, create more jobs in Texas and ramp up overall spending in the economy.
"If they’re making money, they’re spending money," he said. "That’s human nature. And if they’re making money, then they’re buying donuts, they’re buying breakfast, they’re buying new cars."
In the meantime, despite the release from the reserve, consumers will likely continue to see high prices at the gas pump, according to Skip York, a nonresident fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University's Baker Institute.
"What they're really hoping to do is to temper the increase, or try to put a ceiling on prices," he said. "I don't think there's going to be a big enough volume relief to actually see a lot of price relief."
Disclosure: Houston Public Media is licensed to the University of Houston System. The university does not play a role in Houston Public Media’s editorial decisions. Read our statement of ethics and standards here.
Copyright 2026 Houston Public Media News 88.7
