Analysts expect withdrawals to continue this summer from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserves in Texas and Louisiana as the inventory approaches levels not seen in more than 40 years. Inventory as of May 29 was 357.1 million barrels at the four underground sites in Texas and Louisiana owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. The SPR, the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil, was created in 1975 during the presidential administration of Gerald Ford after the oil crisis of 1973-74.
DOE reported withdrawals from the SPR of 400,000 barrels in March, 20.3 million barrels in April and 37.4 million barrels in May in response to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran that began Feb. 28. Analyst Patrick De Haan told Newsweek Tuesday, “The reserve is days away from reaching levels last touched in August 1983 when it was still in the initial ‘fill-up’ stage.” And Neil Chapman, vice president of ExxonMobil, told reporters at a conference last week that the world is “approaching unheard-of inventory levels.”
The SPR is authorized to hold 714 million barrels. It held 413 million barrels at the start of 2026 after falling to 346.8 million barrels in 2023 triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war. It held 345.7 million barrels Aug. 19, 1983. Newsweek added, “Supplies have been used to increase the amount of available crude on the market and put downward pressure on prices during significant disruptions in oil supplies that threaten the U.S. economy.”
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