U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve hits lowest level since 1982

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve hits lowest level since 1982

Tue, September 15, 2026 at 3:41 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• CL=F +0.42%

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve held 285.4 million barrels of crude oil as of the week ending September 4, the lowest level since November 1982, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration.

The reserve declined 1.2 million barrels from the prior week's 286.6 million barrels. A year earlier, the reserve held 405.2 million barrels — meaning stocks have fallen nearly 120 million barrels, or about 30%, over the past 12 months.

Those releases stem from a U.S. commitment to draw down 172 million barrels from the reserve, according to Reuters.

The EIA data also showed that commercial crude oil inventories, which exclude the reserve, fell 0.4 million barrels during the same week to 424.1 million barrels, matching the five-year average.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was priced at $92.69 per barrel on September 4, up $8.12 from the prior week and $30.47 above the price a year earlier. The national average retail price for regular gasoline stood at $4.157 per gallon as of September 7, up $0.086 from the prior week and $0.965 above the year-ago price.

The reserve's decline comes amid a broader period of elevated oil prices. Oil prices surged earlier this week after Saudi Arabia shut down its East-West pipeline following drone attacks, pushing Brent crude futures above $108 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate futures above $103 a barrel — the first time U.S. crude had traded above $100 since May. Separately, a 60-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran expired in August without a permanent agreement, adding further upward pressure to oil markets.

U.S. refineries processed 17.6 million barrels per day during the week ending September 4, up 91,000 barrels per day from the prior week, at 97.8% capacity utilization, according to the EIA. Crude oil imports increased 53,000 barrels per day to 6.8 million barrels per day during the same period.