Strategic Petroleum Reserve at lowest level in 40 years

[WSHazel]

Why start a war in the Middle East if the SPR is at a 40 year low? Look into activity in the oil futures markets leading up to the war. I bet the MAGA leadership was loading up. It’s not gambling if you know the outcome in advance.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-oil-strategic-petroleum-reserve-f94657cbef74c0c682f5cc6472bfb3cb

[2naSalit]

1. What was it at on...

Jan 19, 2025?

[Greg_In_SF]

2. It was

394.57 million.

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_of_crude_oil_in_the_strategic_petroleum_reserve

[MichMan]

6. According to that chart it isn't the lowest in 40 years as the OP claims

[WarGamer]

10. the OP isn't factual... so there's that.

[WSHazel]

3. Why didn't we load up at $50 a barrel?

Could it be because Trump didn’t want any competition from other buyers in the market as he was loading up?

[Greg_In_SF]

4. Why was it

cut nearly in half in 2022?!

[2naSalit]

5. To level out...

The price of gas as we came out of the covid nightmare. I thought Biden was replenishing the reseve over the last 18 months of his tenure.

Now I'm just confused.

[Renew Deal]

11. Why are you posting disinformation?

People have pointed out to you that the 40 year claim isn't in the article. They have asked you for the source. And you have responded with irrelevant questions. This looks more like an "ends justify the means" disinformation attempt than facts.

[WSHazel]

12. I provided a link going back 45 years

The data speaks for itself. I am sorry you don’t understand what I am talking about, but there is no need to attack me.

[MichMan]

7. The link in the OP doesn't say it is "at lowest level in 40 years" as the headline states

If you read the link, it actually says that it is higher than it was a year ago, and that the lowest levels were in 2022, which was only 4 years ago, not 40. Where did that headline come from?

The reserve held more than 415 million barrels as of the end of last month, up from about 395 million barrels at this time in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The reserve was created after the 1970s Arab oil embargo to give the United States a supply that could be used in an emergency. The amount of oil inside peaked more than a decade and a half ago, Energy Department data shows, when the reserve held more than 726.6 million barrels at one point.

Today, the U.S. exports more petroleum than it imports. But the reserve remains and has been tapped for various reasons over time, from offsetting the impact of hurricanes and ship-channel closings to raising money for deficit reduction.

Former presidents have turned to the reserve amid supply disruptions spanning from geopolitical conflicts, adding more supply onto the market in the hope of pushing prices lower. President Joe Biden drew significantly from the reserve in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropping the stockpile to its lowest level since the 1980s. Back in 1991, President George H.W. Bush also authorized withdrawing nearly 34 million barrels during the Gulf War, although only 17 million barrels were used. And in 2011, President Barack Obama approved the release of 30 million barrels to offset the disruption of supply from Libya.

[WSHazel]

8. The last few years have been low

Biden sold off 200+ million barrels when prices were high, but prior to that the balance had been been 600 to 700 million barrels since the mid 2000’s, and hasn’t dropped below 450 million barrels consistently since the mid 80’s.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcsstus1&f=a

So why, if Trump was planning to attack Iran, wouldn’t the U.S. start buying cheap oil for months in advance? One reason could be that Trump and his friends were buying cheap oil for months in advance, and didn’t want the competition.

[MichMan]

9. The headline in your OP stated it was the lowest it has been in 40 years

Which is clearly false.

Where did that headline come from? It's not anywhere in the link you posted. Was it just made up?

[WSHazel]

13. Read the data rather than attack

My source is the NEA.

I didn’t realize there were so many Trump defenders on this site.

[MichMan]

16. This site is fact based

[WSHazel]

17. As is my post

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcsstus1&f=a

Look at the chart in this link. The SPR is near 40 year lows.

It appears you are being deliberately obtuse in your attacks on me. I provided the facts supporting my assertion in two separate links, both of which you have repeatedly ignored to continue to attack me.

[MichMan]

20. Apparently, we just disagree

You believe that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is currently at the lowest levels it has ever been since 1986, and I believe it is higher than it was in 2022 and also higher than it was just a year ago.

Now moving the goalposts I see; after insisting it was at the lowest levels ever in the last 40 years, now it is "near 40 year lows"

Your own link shows the low was in 2023 (354,684) and it has been rising since then, wouldn't you agree?

2020's 638,086 593,682 372,030 354,684 393,568 413,464

You should edit your headline

[WSHazel]

14. If Trump and cronies did what I think they did with oil futures

Some of them will be the richest people in human history. Investors will pullout of the American market if this stuff keeps up.

[WSHazel]

18. Let's try this again for the Trump defenders

1) The SPR is near 40 year lows.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcsstus1&f=a

See the link above.

2) Trump decides to start a major war in the Middle East which will significantly disrupt oil supplies.

3) Trump has been threatening this for months, and even attacked Iran for a few days back in July.

4) Why didn't Trump start building up the SPR last year given that the price of oil was near multi-decade lows, and he knew he was going to start a war in the Persian Gulf?

5) This next part is supposition, obviously, but could the reason have been that Trump and MAGA leadership were front running their own attack of Iran and buying oil futures themselves? If Trump was going to start a war in the Middle East, re-building the SPR would have been the logical and prudent step to take. Why didn't they do it? Either they were grossly incompetent or trading on inside information for themselves.

I believe that there were significant buyers in the oil market leading up to the strikes on Iran. I can't prove it, but I believe that the price of oil should have been even lower than it was, but there were insiders that were trading ahead of the strike.

There have been rumors that some connected investors, including the President himself, have been front running good and bad news from the Trump Administration since his first administration. I and others have posted about this on this site. There has never been another President that has made as many sudden, unexpected announcements that create significant White House-driven volatility across financial and commodity markets.

Investors do not need proof to some legal standard to reach a conclusion that a market is dishonest or unfair. Bad coincidences are proof enough, and investors will start leaving a market that they believe is dishonest and invest in one they think is better regulated and fairer. That is how markets work, and that is how the U.S. became the destination of capital from all around the world. The world thought we were fairer and better regulated. It does not need to be this way, and investors will find another market to invest if our Administration keeps manipulating financial and commodity markets.

[WSHazel]

19. I hadn't seen this when I made the post above

Lindsay Graham bragging about all the money "we" are going to make. Who is "we"? Trump insiders?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/9/we-are-going-make-a-tonne-of-money-us-senator-graham-on-us-war-on-iran