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 . 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 September 4, 2026, the inventory was . This equates to about 14 days' worth of oil at 2026 daily U.S. consumption levels of or 42 days' worth of oil at 2026 daily U.S. import levels of . However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only , so it would take about 106 days to use the entire inventory. At recent market prices ($90 a barrel as of September 2026), the SPR holds over $11.3 billion in sweet crude and approximately $14.4 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.
According to legislation already in place, the amount of oil in the reserve could fall to 410 million barrels by 2028 while still meeting petroleum import coverage requirements. This will be a 40% reduction to the oil in the reservoir since 2010.
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 at, 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 because of rising oil prices.
In March 2026, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced plans to release 172 million barrels from the SPR over 120 days, as part of a larger release of 400 million barrels by 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency. In June, the amount of oil in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve plunged to the lowest level since 1983 as the Trump administration continues to deploy emergency oil to minimize the damage from the war with Iran.
Facilities
The SPR management office is located in Elmwood, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.
The reserve is stored at four sites on the Gulf of Mexico, each located near a major center of petrochemical refining and processing. Each site contains a number of artificial caverns created in salt domes below the surface.
Individual caverns within a site can be up to below the surface. Average dimensions are wide and deep; capacity ranges from . Almost $4 billion was spent on the facilities. The decision to store in caverns was made to reduce costs. The Department of Energy claims that it is approximately ten times more cost effective to store oil below the surface, with the added advantages of no leaks and a constant natural churn of the oil due to a temperature gradient in the caverns. The caverns were created by drilling down and then dissolving the salt with water.
Existing Bryan Mound: Freeport, Texas. 20 caverns with a storage capacity of with a drawdown capacity of per day. Big Hill: Winnie, Texas. Has a capacity of with a drawdown capacity of per day due to a construction outage. West Hackberry: Lake Charles, Louisiana. Has a capacity of with a drawdown capacity of per day due to low inventory. Bayou Choctaw: Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Has a capacity of with a maximum drawdown rate of per day.
Retired Weeks Island: Iberia Parish, Louisiana (decommissioned 1999): Capacity of . This facility was a conventional room and pillar near-surface salt mine, formerly owned by Morton Salt. In 1993, a sinkhole formed on the site, allowing fresh water to intrude into the mine. Because of the mine's construction in salt deposits, fresh water would erode the ceiling, potentially causing the structure to fail. The mine was backfilled with salt-saturated brine. This process, which allowed for recovery of 98% of the petroleum stored in the facility, reduced the risk of further fresh water intrusion, and helped prevent the remaining oil from leaking into the aquifer that is located over the salt dome.
History Background The SPR was created following the 1973 energy crisis. On November 18, 1974, the United States became a signatory to the Agreement on an International Energy Program (IEP) and a founding member of the International Energy Agency that the IEP established. One of the key commitments made by the treaty's signatories is to maintain oil stocks of no less than 90 days of net imports.
Access to the reserve is determined by the conditions written into the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), primarily to counter a severe supply interruption. The maximum removal rate, by physical constraints, is . Oil could begin entering the marketplace 13 days after a presidential order. The Department of Energy says it has about 59 days of import protection in the SPR. This, combined with private sector inventory protection, is estimated to equal 115 days of imports.
The EPCA of December 22, 1975, made it policy for the United States to establish a reserve up to 1 billion barrels (159 million m3) of petroleum. A number of existing storage sites were acquired in 1977. Construction of the first surface facilities began in June 1977. On July 21, 1977, the first oil—approximately of Saudi Arabian light crude—was delivered to the SPR. Fill was suspended in Fiscal Year 1995 to devote budget resources to refurbishing the SPR equipment and extending the life of the complex.
Domestic actions 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 capacity." The highest prior level was reached in 1994 with . At the time of President Bush's directive, the SPR contained about . Since the directive in 2001, the capacity of the SPR has increased by due to natural enlargement of the salt caverns in which the reserves are stored. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has since directed the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR to the full authorized capacity, a process which will require a physical expansion of the Reserve's facilities.
On August 17, 2005, the SPR reached its goal of . Approximately 60% of the crude oil in the reserve is the less desirable sour (high sulfur content) variety. The oil delivered to the reserve is "royalty-in-kind" oil—royalties owed to the U.S. government by operators who acquire leases on the federally owned Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. These royalties were previously collected as cash, but in 1998 the government began testing the effectiveness of collecting royalties "in kind"—or in other words, acquiring the crude oil itself. This mechanism was adopted when refilling the SPR began, and once filling is completed, revenues from the sale of future royalties will be paid into the federal treasury.
On April 25, 2006, President Bush announced a temporary halt to petroleum deposits to the SPR as part of a four-point program to alleviate high fuel prices.
On January 23, 2007, President Bush suggested in his State of the Union speech that Congress should approve expansion of the current reserve capacity to twice its current level.
On May 16, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it would halt all deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sometime in July. This announcement came days after Congress voted to direct the Bush administration to do the same.
On January 2, 2009, after a sharp decline in fuel prices, DOE said that it would begin buying approximately of crude oil to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, replenishing supplies that were sold after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The purchase would be funded by the roughly $600 million received from those emergency sales.
On September 9, 2011, a Notice of Cancellation was published in the Federal Register after Congress rescinded funding for the expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reversing the SPR expansion initiative previously directed under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
On October 20, 2014, a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended reducing the size of the Reserve. According to the report, the amount of oil held in reserve exceeds the amount required to be kept on hand given the need for imported crude oil had decreased in recent years. The report said the DOE agreed with the GAO recommendation.
On March 19, 2020, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Energy to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to maximum capacity, when oil was priced at $24 per barrel. This directive was given to help support domestic oil producers given the impending economic collapse from COVID-19 and extreme drops in international oil markets. However, funding was blocked by Congress, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer stating that Democrats had blocked a "bailout for big oil".
In 2022, the Biden administration sold 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over 6 months. The sale lowered the SPR to its lowest levels in 40 years and was the largest ever release of oil from the SPR. SPR drawdowns continued into 2023, lowering the SPR by 45% from January 2021. Since the 2022 sales, the Department of Energy bought back 32.3 million barrels of oil, aiming to purchase at a maximum price of $79 per barrel. However, oil has been purchased exceeding the $79 price cap in March 2024. As of April 2024, further SPR purchases were cancelled due to rising oil prices.
Emergency sales to Israel According to the 1975 Sinai Interim Agreement signed by the United States and Israel, as a precondition for Israel's return of the Sinai Peninsula and its associated oil reserves to Egypt, in an emergency the United States was obligated to make oil available for sale to Israel for up to five years. Israel has never invoked the agreement , however. The agreement was extended in 1979, 1994, 2004, and, most recently, in 2015 for a ten-year period.
International obligations As a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States must stock an amount of petroleum equivalent to at least 90 days of U.S. imports. The SPR contained an equivalent to 141 days of imports as of September 2016. The United States is also obligated to contribute 43.9% of petroleum in any IEA-coordinated release.
Limitations