I think many folks forget that our current President used to be in the oil business. A distant relative of mine, who is also in the oil business, told me years ago, that one of George Bush's goals was to get the price of oil, up.
Why would someone who wanted to get the price of a commodity up, want to discontinue new purchases (for the oil reserve) let alone release oil from that reserve, that would cause the price, of oil, to drop?
Jim