According to the article the only other time that the Strategic Oil Reserve got tapped was for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, so that would have been George H. W. Bush. ‘Course tapping it in time of war when there was an actual disruption of the oil supply... that was sort of the whole point.
I don’t see how it’s an emergency in the US just because of a slight disruption from the ME. So, you lower gas prices for about a week or so, the reserve is down, then what?