Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)

Extracted Attributes

• Storage Method

  Underground salt caverns

• Import Coverage

  Approximately 47 days of U.S. imports

• Inventory Value

  Over $22.4 billion (estimated March 2025)

• Managing Agency

  U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

• Current Inventory

  395.3 million barrels (as of 2025-03-07)

• Authorized Capacity

  714 million barrels

• Consumption Coverage

  Approximately 19 days of U.S. consumption

• Withdrawal Capability

  4.4 million barrels per day

Timeline

• The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is established to mitigate future supply disruptions. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1975-12-22

• President George W. Bush directs the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR to its 700 million barrel capacity. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2001-11-13

• The SPR reaches its historical peak inventory of 727 million barrels. (Source: National Geographic)

  2009-12-01

• The U.S. Department of Energy begins a series of at least seven mandated sales to fund federal spending. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017-01-01

• President Joe Biden announces the release of 1 million barrels per day for 180 days, the largest sale in SPR history. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-03-31

• The Biden administration begins the process of replenishing the reserve. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2023-01-01

• Further oil purchases for replenishment are cancelled due to rising market prices. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2024-04-01

• Current inventory is recorded at 395.3 million barrels. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-03-07

• Projected date by which inventory could fall to 238 million barrels based on current legislation. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2028-12-31

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). 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. The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. As of March 7, 2025, the inventory was 395.3 million barrels (62,850,000 m3). This equates to about 19 days of oil at 2023 daily U.S. consumption levels of 20.275 million barrels per day (3,223,500 m3/d) or 47 days of oil at 2024 daily U.S. import levels of 8.420 million barrels per day (1,338,700 m3/d). 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 90 days to use the entire inventory. At recent market prices ($66 a barrel as of March 2025), the SPR holds over $9.5 billion in sweet crude and approximately $12.9 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). 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. 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. 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. The Biden administration continued to release reserves in 2023, selling off 45% of the SPR by September 2023. 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. According to legislation already in place, the amount of oil in the reserve could fall to 238 million barrels by 2028. This will be a 67% reduction to the oil in the reservoir since 2010.

Web Search Results

• Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States) - Wikipedia

  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). 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 [...] The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is primarily a crude petroleum reserve, not a stockpile of refined petroleum fuels such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene. Although the United States maintains some extra supply of refined petroleum fuels, e.g., the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve and Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve") under the aegis of the Department of Energy (DOE), the government does not maintain gasoline reserves on anything like the scale of the SPR. The SPR is intended to give the [...] On November 13, 2001, shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush announced that the SPR would be filled, saying, "The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an important element of our Nation's energy security. To maximize long-term protection against oil supply disruptions, I am directing the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR up to its 700 million barrels (110,000,000 m3) capacity." The highest prior level was reached in 1994 with 592 million barrels (94,100,000 m3).

• SPR Quick Facts

  The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, is a federally managed network of four sites located along the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Each site contains deep underground storage caverns carved into natural salt domes, engineered to securely hold large volumes of crude oil. ## Inventory Current inventory - Click to open inventory update window Historical Inventory - Selecting this link with take you to EIA's website

• What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? | National Geographic

  The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world’s largest known oil reserve. It’s split across four sites along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas, chosen for their access to marine terminals and pipelines needed to move oil. The petroleum is piped deep underground for storage, into caverns carved out of salt domes which are considered to be the most environmentally secure way to store oil because of their low permeability. ## Last Chance - Save up to $20! [...] In the years that followed, the U.S. pursued a policy of energy independence, to protect it from such crises in the future. One of the new policy’s initiatives was the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), a stockpile of crude oil that the country could tap during emergencies. With a present-day capacity of more than 727 million barrels of oil, the reserve allows the country to respond to shortages—and attempt to prevent them. [...] As of March 4, 2022, the SPR held about 577.5 million barrels of light crude oil, which can be refined and turned into products including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel. Although the U.S. Congress originally stipulated in 1975 that the reserve should be able to hold up to a billion barrels, that capacity has never been reached. The most oil that has ever been in the reserves—and the most its current facilities can hold—was 727 million barrels in December 2009.

• Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Department of Energy

  The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program. The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of America. The sheer size of the SPR (authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels) makes it a [...] ## Infographic & Fact Sheet Infographic: Strategic Petroleum Reserve Learn how the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil, provides energy security for America. Learn More about Infographic: Strategic Petroleum Reserve Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fact Sheet Read more on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Learn More about Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fact Sheet ## SPR Program Information + Petroleum Reserves SPR Storage Sites

• How Does the U.S. Government Use the Strategic Petroleum ...

  Established by the U.S. government nearly fifty years ago, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is intended to protect the economy and strengthen national security during major oil supply disruptions. Presidents have tapped the reserve, which is one of several U.S. strategic stockpiles, in response to various crises, including natural disasters, military conflicts, and ship-channel closings. More From Our Experts James M. Lindsay Ten Most Significant World Events in 2025 Daniel B. Poneman [...] Since the 1970s, the United States has maintained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), an emergency stockpile of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in underground storage facilities. The U.S. president has broad discretion to order the sale or loan of SPR oil in response to disruptive world events, such as hurricanes and wars. The Biden administration has made historically large withdrawals from the SPR, which some policymakers have criticized as ineffective. Related [...] The SPR is the world’s largest stockpile of emergency crude oil, owned and operated by the U.S. federal government to alleviate significant oil supply disruptions or price inflation. The oil is kept across a network of underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana, which can hold a total of more than seven hundred million barrels of oil. Up to 4.4 million barrels can be withdrawn per day—about a quarter of daily U.S. consumption—and the oil takes about two weeks to reach the market.