Published
Jun 15, 2026 at 03:48 PM EDT
updated
Jun 15, 2026 at 04:59 PM EDT
Stocks of crude oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell to 340.3 million barrels, the lowest level since 1983, according to Department of Energy data released Monday, underscoring tightening supplies even as the United States and Iran move toward a deal to end months of conflict.
The government’s emergency stockpile dropped by 8.9 million barrels in the latest week, marking one of the steepest drawdowns on record as part of a plan to release 172 million barrels to help curb fuel costs that have surged to multi-year highs.
U.S. crude inventories have declined sharply amid strong refining demand and rising exports to offset supply disruptions caused by the Iran war, with storage levels at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, hub nearing operational lows—heightening concerns about supply tightness.
The drawdowns come as Washington signals that companies borrowing oil from the SPR will return the volumes with a premium, a system officials say can stabilize markets without long-term costs to taxpayers.
Gas prices are already beginning to ease following the announcement of a U.S.-Iran deal and expectations that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz will resume, which has pushed crude prices lower. The national average for regular gasoline stood at about $4.06 a gallon as of Monday, down from recent highs above $4.50 in May.
Analysts say any sustained drop will depend on how quickly global supply recovers, noting prices could fall further if the strait fully reopens—but warning it may take time before costs return to pre-war levels.
The United States and Iran have reached a preliminary agreement to end their nearly four-month conflict, but a formal signing ceremony is still pending. Officials from both sides have said the deal is expected to be signed on Friday in Switzerland after technical discussions.
While the memorandum of understanding marks a major step toward de-escalation, key details—including enforcement mechanisms and longer-term issues such as sanctions and nuclear negotiations—remain unresolved.
The Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments, is not yet fully operational despite plans to reopen it under the pending deal. Leaders have said the waterway will reopen once the agreement is formally signed, though implementation may take time.
Shipping has only partially resumed in some areas, and industry officials warn that clearing mines and restoring full confidence among insurers and tanker operators could delay a return to normal traffic by weeks.
Authorized in 1975 by President Gerald Ford, the SPR was created in response to the economic fallout from the 1973 Oil Crisis, which caused shortages, price increases and broad unease about the country’s vulnerability to global energy shocks.
Located across a series of underground facilities along the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana, the SPR has been dubbed an “emergency response tool” by the Department of Energy, and supplies have in the past been used to increase the amount of available crude on the market and put downward pressure on prices during “significant disruptions in oil supplies that threaten the U.S. economy.”
Releases occurred during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, after Hurricane Katrina damaged response facilities in the Gulf in 2005, following supply disruptions caused by the Libyan civil war, and to address the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The latter took place under Biden and, at around 180 million barrels, is still the largest single drawdown in the reserve’s 50-year history. This drew opposition from Republican lawmakers and Trump, who called it a “futile attempt to reduce oil and gasoline prices” and continued to criticize Biden for years for depleting U.S. emergency stocks.
“The strategic national reserves, which I filled up, have been virtually drained in order to keep gasoline prices lower, just prior to the election,” Trump said when launching his 2024 presidential campaign in late 2022.
And prior to the Iran war, the administration said it was successfully “refilling and repairing” the SPR after Biden “recklessly drained and damaged it for political purposes.”
Since the war began, however, the U.S. has again relied on the SPR in one of its many attempts to curb the rapid rise in global oil and domestic gas prices.
In March, the Trump administration announced it would release about 172 million barrels from the SPR over 120 days as part of a global push to “lower energy prices.” This is taking place alongside dozens of other member nations of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which have collectively pledged to release 400 million barrels from their emergency reserves.
But while the latest emergency release has seen reserves drained rapidly, the amount of crude in the SPR has been dwindling for years.
“The SPR was irresponsibly depleted for many years prior to the Hormuz crisis and refilling it will also take many years and require congressional appropriations,” Bob McNally, president of the Rapidan Energy Group consulting firm and a former White House energy adviser, told Newsweek earlier this month.
According to the Department of Energy, this coordinated release has been structured as an exchange, meaning that more than the original volume drawn down must be “returned to the SPR at a later date.”
McNally told Newsweek that when this occurs, it could put “upward pressure” on prices, but said the U.S. could mitigate it by doing so slowly.
And oil market analyst Thomas Kloza said while the drawdown may elicit “lots of criticism” and prove a “political liability” for Trump, this has “been a key factor in keeping crude oil price appreciation suppressed.”
Lipow Oil Associates President Andy Lipow told CNBC last month that the coordinated global release of oil reserves by the U.S. and others had helped prevent crude from reaching $150 per barrel, as some had feared.
However, Lipow said that the U.S. was “well on the way” toward the “minimum operating level” of 240 million barrels. Kloza similarly told Newsweek that as the SPR falls below 300 million barrels, this will create problems with “the integrity of the oil stored,” among other issues.
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