US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Lowest Level Since 1982

The United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is at its lowest level in more than four decades, remaining below the 300 million barrel threshold.

As of Aug. 14, there were 293.4 million barrels of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventory, according to data from the Department of Energy (DOE).

This is a decline from the previous week and is the lowest level since December 1982, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). It is also well below the SPR’s full authorized capacity of 727 million barrels.

The DOE said in March that the United States has arranged to replace the 172 million used barrels with around 200 million barrels, or roughly 20 percent more, at no cost to the taxpayer. This is estimated to happen within the next year.

In a March 12 post, Demian Brady, vice president of research at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, and Ryan Kas called for action to restore the SPR.

One measure could be the cancellation of roughly 100 million barrels of SPR stocks scheduled for sale through fiscal year 2031, the authors said. Canceling these drawdowns would keep these stocks within the reserve, contributing to faster restoration of the SPR.

The authors suggested that Congress require the SPR releases be linked to genuine energy emergencies and that any release be done only under congressional oversight.

In March, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced the Strategic Petroleum Accumulation and Reserve Tax Alignment Act (SPARTA) that seeks to replenish the reserves.

Specifically, the bill aims to use revenues from the clean electricity tax credits to support the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to a March 20 statement from the lawmaker’s office.

SPR is crucial to protecting national security and responding to energy emergencies; however, it’s been “depleted after years of misuse,” Cotton said.

“My bill will replenish this crucial energy stockpile and shield Arkansans from paying high prices at the pump for years to come,” he added. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.

SPR Infrastructure Concerns

In addition to low stock, SPR is also facing issues with its infrastructure. In a May 2026 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that SPR’s operational capability to meet its mission needs was at risk. The SPR was established to reduce the impact of any oil supply disruptions.

According to the report, DOE has completed some life extension work and conducted major maintenance on the SPR infrastructure.

“However, investments in the SPR are again not keeping pace with the aging reserve’s needs, resulting in a growing backlog and looming operational limitations,” the report said.

According to the GAO, DOE has detected issues with the aging SPR infrastructure that will increasingly limit the SPR’s ability to “meet fill or drawdown directives.”

The SPR stocks are stored in 60 large underground salt caverns at four storage sites in Louisiana and Texas.

SPR has been used during crisis situations such as the Hurricane Katrina devastation in 2005, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the ongoing Iran War. The latter two represent the largest drawdowns to date, GAO said in a June 29 report.

A combination of an “underperforming, decade-long” infrastructure project related to the SPR, together with expected wear and tear, has left the reserve with a growing list of upgrades and repairs that need to be carried out.

The report added that studying the demands would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but if left undone, could undermine the operational capabilities of the reserve, including its ability to safely and reliably release and receive oil.