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U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Current Level and History

Week ending August 7, 2026 (released August 12, 2026) · Updated August 15, 2026

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve held 298.7 million barrels of crude oil in the week ending August 7, 2026, per EIA weekly data released August 12, 2026. That is down 6.1 million barrels (2.0%) from the prior week and 41.8% of the reserve's 714 million barrels of authorized storage capacity, per DOE (as of August 5, 2026). It is the reserve's lowest level since January 28, 1983. The SPR is the federal government's emergency crude oil stockpile: it is not U.S. proved oil reserves in the ground, and it is not the commercial crude inventory that refiners hold.

Full history since 1982

The reserve was authorized in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo and began filling in 1977. It peaked at 726.6 million barrels in the week ending January 1, 2010, and DOE's Quick Facts page records that it reached full authorized capacity on December 27, 2009. Today's 298.7 million barrels is the lowest level since January 28, 1983, when the stockpile was on its way up during the initial fill. Reasons for individual drawdowns are documented in DOE's release history; this page reports the inventory record and does not attribute causes to it.

Year-end inventory by year

The last three years, week by week

Latest 52 weeks

What is stored, and where

The oil sits in deep underground salt caverns at four Gulf Coast sites, split between sweet (lower sulfur) and sour (higher sulfur) crude. DOE reports site inventory as of August 5, 2026; the weekly EIA figure above carries a different, usually later, observation date, so the two totals are not the same measurement.

Capacity and drawdown are different numbers

• Authorized storage capacity: 714 million barrels (DOE, August 5, 2026). How much the caverns are authorized to hold, not how much is in them. Capacity has changed over the reserve's life, which is why the history chart does not draw today's capacity as a line across past decades.
• Maximum nominal drawdown capability: 4.4 million barrels per day (DOE). How fast oil can physically be pumped out; DOE states oil can reach the U.S. market about 13 days after a Presidential decision. Whether and when to draw down is a policy decision, and this page does not speculate on it.

See also U.S. energy facts and statistics, Strait of Hormuz oil flows, why gas prices are high, and gas prices by state.

Sources: EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (series WCSSTUS1, weekly since 1982); DOE SPR Quick Facts (site inventory, capacity, drawdown capability, as of August 5, 2026). Every figure carries its own observation date. See methodology.