The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was drawn down another 3.1 million barrels last week, bringing the federal inventory of crude oil to its lowest since the autumn of 1982, Energy Department data showed today.

The stockpiles have been greatly reduced in recent years, starting during the first Trump administration, continuing through Joe Biden's presidency-when Russia's invasion of Ukraine shocked energy markets-and again by Trump in March after the U.S. attacked Iran and disrupted the flow of barrels from the Persian Gulf. Trump said in a Sunday social media post that he would replenish the strategic reserves with Venezuelan oil.

"One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves which, because of Sleepy Joe Biden, has been virtually emptied," Trump wrote. "The 'topping out' process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States."

It is unclear when that could begin. Though Trump has touted a deal to take control of a big chunk of Venezuela's oil reserves, the country's drilling fields have fallen into disrepair and the national output has dwindled to only about 1.1 million barrels a day.

Energy executives have mostly expressed hesitance to invest in Venezuela following prior instances in which their assets there were nationalized. They say it will take years of work and cost many billions of dollars to bring Venezuelan oil output back to its historical levels.

Meanwhile, wear and tear and a lack of investment have strained the system of 60 Gulf Coast salt caverns that hold the U.S. reserves. The reserves, established in 1975, were designed for up to five full drawdowns, not the frequent, small withdrawals of recent years, prompting concerns about how long the aging infrastructure will function properly.