Crude inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 9.1 million bbl last week as the Trump administration continues its program of large releases from the stockpile to help offset supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
There were 365.1 million bbl in the reserve as of Friday. That's the lowest level since mid-April 2024. It's also 50.3 million bbl lower than the recent high of 415,422,000 bbl the reserve contained before the start of the latest release program.
Department of Energy data Tuesday indicates the U.S. has released 29.3 million bbl so far this month.
The reserve now contains 139.6 million bbls of sweet crude and 225.5 million bbl of sour crude, according to DOE data. The latest weekly release included about 2.6 million bbl of sweet crude and about 6.4 million bbl of sour crude, the DOE data show.
The latest release is part of the Trump administration's return-exchange program for releases from the reserve. Under the program, oil is loaned to companies which will return it by next year, along with additional barrels as a premium for the exchange.
