US oil reserve sinks towards four-decade low
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen below 300 million barrels, deepening concerns over Washington’s emergency oil cushion as prolonged Middle East supply disruptions force further withdrawals from government stockpiles. Federal inventory data for the week ended August 7 put the reserve at about 298.7 million barrels after a weekly draw of roughly 6.1 million barrels. That was the lowest…
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has dropped to just over 298.7 million barrels, marking its lowest level since 1983 and raising concerns over the government's emergency oil supply. This depletion has accelerated since the US joined a coordinated effort to release emergency oil following disruptions to Middle East supplies. The reserve, mainly stored in Texas and Louisiana, saw a weekly draw of around 6.1 million barrels in the week ending August 7.
This decline follows a sharp reduction since the escalation of Iran conflict earlier this year, reversing much of the replenishment after 2022 and 2023 drawdowns. The US committed to releasing 172 million barrels as part of a 400 million-barrel emergency action agreed upon by the International Energy Agency to ease the impact of disrupted crude flows.
However, replenishing stocks on this scale is contingent on crude prices, congressional funding, and storage capacity. Commercial US crude inventories, in contrast, have increased by 17.4 million barrels to 424.4 million barrels, partially offsetting concerns over strategic reserve depletion.
Written by urgent.news from Arabian Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
