In-brief analysis
April 30, 2026
Between the week ending March 20 and the week ending April 24, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a total of 17.5 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), according to data in our Weekly Petroleum Status Report. DOE released 7.1 million barrels in the week ending April 24, the most released since the week ending October 7, 2022. SPR stocks are currently 397.9 million barrels.
The United States is in the process of releasing 172 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. SPR. The U.S. SPR release is part of a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million barrels of crude oil and refined products globally to address disruptions in oil supply stemming from the conflict in the Middle East. Our recent Today in Energy analysis explores the strategic oil inventory levels in other countries before the release announcement.
The U.S. SPR release is structured as an exchange, which requires the original volume of oil, plus additional barrels, to be returned to the SPR within one year.
The SPR was established in the 1970s to reduce the effects of unexpected oil supply disruptions. The reserve has an authorized storage capacity to hold up to 714 million barrels of crude oil across four storage sites along the Gulf of America, where much of the U.S. petroleum refining capacity is located.
We survey SPR inventory levels each week in our Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
Principal contributor: Kimberly Peterson
