Bill blocks U.S. from selling strategic oil reserves to Russia, hostile regimes
H.R. 256 — SAVE Act · Filed by Stephanie Bice (R-OK) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill prohibits the U.S. Department of Energy from selling petroleum products drawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to companies headquartered in countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism (under federal regulations) or in Russia. It amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to add this restriction and updates the law's table of contents accordingly.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward prohibition on SPR sales to foreign adversaries. It is a national-security measure that restricts executive discretion over a strategic asset, not a subsidy, deregulation, or private carve-out.
What the text implies
- The bill references 22 CFR 126.1 (state-sponsor designations) as of the date of enactment, creating a static list; future additions to the state-sponsor list will not automatically apply unless the law is amended again.
- The prohibition applies to 'any entity headquartered in' a listed country, potentially capturing subsidiaries or shell companies even if ultimate beneficial ownership is U.S.-based, depending on how 'headquartered' is interpreted by DOE.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who it affects
The bill restricts the executive branch's ability to sell strategic energy reserves to entities controlled by or headquartered in hostile foreign powers, preserving a critical national asset for domestic use and preventing revenue from flowing to U.S. adversaries.