# Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude stocks | PIER20 benchmarks How much crude oil does the U.S. hold in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the U.S. government emergency crude stockpile. It sits in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. This page tracks the weekly level against the full-sample weekly minimum (the all-time low on this chart). The SPR is a policy asset, not a market inventory. Its size reflects federal drawdown and refill decisions. As of **31 July 2026**, the latest readings are SPR crude stocks at **304.81 Million Barrels** and All-time low at **270.45 Million Barrels**. The SPR crude stocks line is down 24.4% over the past year and below its long-run median of 587.01 Million Barrels. ## Summary statistics (full history) | Series | First | Latest | Min | Max | |---|---|---|---|---| | SPR crude stocks | 270.45 | 304.81 | 270.45 | 726.62 | | All-time low | 270.45 | 270.45 | 270.45 | 270.45 | ## Last 24 readings | Date | SPR crude stocks | All-time low | |---|---|---| | 20 Feb 2026 | 415.44 | 270.45 | | 27 Feb 2026 | 415.44 | 270.45 | | 6 Mar 2026 | 415.44 | 270.45 | | 13 Mar 2026 | 415.44 | 270.45 | | 20 Mar 2026 | 415.44 | 270.45 | | 27 Mar 2026 | 415.06 | 270.45 | | 3 Apr 2026 | 413.32 | 270.45 | | 10 Apr 2026 | 409.18 | 270.45 | | 17 Apr 2026 | 405.05 | 270.45 | | 24 Apr 2026 | 397.92 | 270.45 | | 1 May 2026 | 392.70 | 270.45 | | 8 May 2026 | 384.10 | 270.45 | | 15 May 2026 | 374.18 | 270.45 | | 22 May 2026 | 365.11 | 270.45 | | 29 May 2026 | 357.12 | 270.45 | | 5 Jun 2026 | 349.19 | 270.45 | | 12 Jun 2026 | 340.25 | 270.45 | | 19 Jun 2026 | 331.19 | 270.45 | | 26 Jun 2026 | 325.65 | 270.45 | | 3 Jul 2026 | 319.49 | 270.45 | | 10 Jul 2026 | 316.50 | 270.45 | | 17 Jul 2026 | 311.45 | 270.45 | | 24 Jul 2026 | 307.65 | 270.45 | | 31 Jul 2026 | 304.81 | 270.45 | ## How to read this benchmark **What a high or low level means.** The SPR is an emergency buffer, so its level is a policy output rather than a market signal. High levels mean the reserve is stocked with emergency cover. low levels mean drawdowns have depleted it. Large moves track announced releases and refills. Notably the 2022 emergency release that took the modern stockpile to a mid-2023 trough near 347 million barrels, and later draws that have taken the level lower still. **Why the all-time low as the comparator.** The reserve has no meaningful seasonal cycle. Its level moves only when the government buys or sells. So a seasonal band would be noise. The reference line is the full-sample weekly minimum in this series (early in the 1980s fill era), not the 2023 policy trough. Distance from that line measures how far the current stockpile sits above the lowest weekly print in the sample. it is not a “rebuilt from 2023” scoreboard. **Why this is not a market-inventory signal.** Commercial crude stocks are held by industry to balance supply and demand. the SPR is held by the government for supply-security policy. Releases in 2022 added barrels to commercial availability and were priced by the market as a policy supply event, but the reserve's own level says nothing about the commercial balance. The commercial and total crude pages cover the market side. **Limitations.** The level reflects federal decisions, not market forces. Drawdowns and refills are announced policy events. The weekly figure can lag announced sales and purchases by a week or more. The sample minimum sits in the early fill period of the weekly series (from 1982), so full-history percentiles are dominated by that era. Treat the chart as a policy-and-supply-security record, not investment advice. ## How this benchmark is used **Emergency-release policy tracking.** The SPR's level is the visible scoreboard of federal emergency-stockpile policy: large 2022 releases, partial refill programs, and later operational draws all show up as moves in this line. Supply-security analysts read the level and its trajectory to gauge how much emergency cover the government is willing to maintain. ## Frequently asked questions **What is the current strategic Petroleum Reserve crude stocks?** As of 31 July 2026, the latest readings are SPR crude stocks at 304.81 Million Barrels and All-time low at 270.45 Million Barrels. The SPR crude stocks line is down 24.4% over the past year and below its long-run median of 587.01 Million Barrels. **How often is this benchmark updated?** This benchmark is built on weekly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file. **What data sources does this chart use?** The chart is built from SPR crude stocks and All-time low, sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). **What is the highest and lowest the SPR has held?** In this weekly sample the reserve peaked near 727 million barrels around 2010 and its all-time low is the sample minimum near 270 million barrels early in the 1980s fill history (the flat reference line on the chart). After the 2022 emergency release the modern trough was roughly 347 million barrels in mid-2023; later prints have been lower than that 2023 trough while remaining above the 1980s sample minimum. **How is this different from commercial crude inventories?** The SPR is government-owned emergency stock; commercial inventories are industry working stocks. They respond to different forces. Policy for the SPR, market balance for commercial. And the 2022 release showed them moving in opposite directions at times. **How often is the data updated?** Weekly, in the same Thursday Weekly Petroleum Status Report that publishes commercial inventories. The SPR figure is also updated by the Department of Energy around its own operational announcements. ## Methodology - Formula: SPR level (EIA WCSSTUS1); distance from extreme = current level − full-sample minimum - Frequency: Weekly - Sources: SPR crude stocks (WCSSTUS1) https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W; All-time low (WCSSTUS1#allTimeLow) https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W. Data via the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). - Data through: 31 July 2026 - Last refreshed: 11 Aug 2026 Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/strategic-petroleum-reserve Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.