OT: Oil in U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls below 300 million barrels, lowest since 1983

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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Key Points

  • The Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million barrels last week, according to the Department of Energy.
  • President Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels in March after Iran choked off oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
  • The minimum amount of oil needed to safely operate the SPR is about 70 million barrels, an Energy Department spokesperson told CNBC.

Crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have fallen below 300 million barrels, the lowest level in more than four decades, as global inventories stay under pressure due to the Iran war.

The SPR fell by 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million barrels last week, according to data released by the Department of Energy on Monday. The reserve, created in 1975, is at its lowest level since January 1983.

President Donald Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels in March after Iran choked off oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering the largest disruption of crude oil supplies in history.

The drawdown in the SPR, whose authorized storage capacity is 714 million barrels, has raised questions about whether U.S. government stockpiles are on the verge of depletion. The minimum amount of oil needed to safely operate the SPR is about 70 million barrels, an Energy Department spokesperson told CNBC in July.

There is enough oil left in the SPR to do another release if needed, said David Goldwyn, who served as a State Department special envoy for international energy affairs under President Barack Obama.

“I’m not worried about the stability of the reserve or our ability to do another drawdown, if we needed to,” Goldwyn told CNBC.

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The government’s claims about how low the reserves could be drawn are lies. They were designed for 25 year operation and five draw downs. We’ve done dozens over 40+ years, most for non-emergencies. Water is pumped in as oil removed from the top, this dissolves the caverns a bit to make the brine on which the oil floats, but that’s been done so very many times it makes instability. Go ahead and look up the real floor according to real engineering companies with the current condition of the SPR, they say 250 to 300 million barrels. We’re playing a game of Ker-Plunk with it.

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