If the U.S. administration actually had any market savvy or even a good long term approach, they would have topped up the SPR a couple of years ago with premium crude oil then selling for US$10/barrel.
Doing that would have left them in a great position to threaten to sell to bring the price under control today as the price of crude oil still lingers around US$35/barrel. President Clinton's threats to release part of the SPR soon to bring the price of crude down is meaningless unless he also can show that the U.S. is willing to refill the same reserve when the price is low.