(MENAFN) The Wall Street Journal reported that US strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) have decreased to their lowest level in nearly 40 years, citing weekly statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The WSJ reported that for the week ending September 16, crude oil stockpiles fell by over 7 million barrels, reaching 427.2 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984. Since 1983, the SPR has not held less oil than commercial storage, according to the report. 430.8 million barrels of oil were kept in commercial storage facilities as of September 16.
In an effort to combat the rising cost of fuel and market disruptions brought on in part by the uncertainty surrounding Russian oil exports to the international market due to the conflict in Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced that a record 180 million barrels of crude oil would be released from the SPR in late March.
Over the course of six months, the US is expected to sell about a million barrels of oil per day under the plan. Analysts estimate that this volume is more than three times more than any prior SPR release. According to official data, the SPR has issued around 155 million barrels so far this year, with another 10 million barrels scheduled to be tapped in November.
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