Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an emergency stockpile of petroleum maintained by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). It is the largest publicly known emergency supply in the world; its underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas have capacity for 714 million barrels (113,500,000 m³).^[1] The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 to mitigate future supply disruptions as part of the international Agreement on an International Energy Program, after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973–1974 oil embargo.^[2]

The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website.^[3] As of July 21, 2023^[update], the inventory was 346.8 million barrels (55,140,000 m³). This equates to about 17 days of oil at 2019 daily U.S. consumption levels of 20.54 million barrels per day (3,266,000 m³/d)^[4] or 35 days of oil at 2019 daily U.S. import levels of 9.141 million barrels per day (1,453,300 m³/d).^[5] However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only 4.4 million barrels per day (700,000 m³/d), so it would take about 79 days to use the entire inventory. At recent market prices ($58 a barrel as of March 2021),^[6] the SPR holds over $14.6 billion in sweet crude and approximately $18.3 billion in sour crude (assuming a $15/barrel discount for sulfur content). In 2012, the total value of the crude in the SPR was approximately $43.5 billion, while the price paid for the oil was $20.1 billion (an average of $28.42 per barrel).^[7]

Since 2015 Congress has mandated sales of oil from the reserve to fund federal spending. The U.S. Department of Energy has run at least seven sales since 2017, selling 132 million barrels, or about 18.2% of what had been in the reserve.^[8][9]

On March 31, 2022, President Joe Biden announced that his administration would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the reserve for the next 180 days, selling it at an average price of $96 per barrel. The 2022 release became the largest ever SPR sale and lowered the SPR to its lowest levels in 40 years.^[10] After oil prices declined during the second half of the year, in December the administration announced it would begin replenishing the SPR in early 2023, expecting to purchase oil at a lower price than it was sold, a process that would take months or years to complete.^[11][12][13] The Biden administration continued to release reserves in 2023, selling off 45% of the SPR by September 2023.^[14] The Department of Energy unveiled plans to purchase oil at a price of $79 per barrel or less, but has since purchased oil at higher prices. As of April 2024, further purchases were cancelled due to rising oil prices.^[10][15]

According to legislation already in place, the amount of oil in the reserve could fall to 238 million barrels by 2028.^[16] This will be a 67% reduction to the oil in the reservoir since 2010.