America’s emergency oil piggy bank is running dangerously low. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped to 340.3 million barrels as of June 12, 2026, according to Department of Energy data, a level the country hasn’t seen since the summer of 1983, when Ronald Reagan was in office and the internet was still a DARPA project.
The reserve has shed approximately 75 million barrels, an 18% decline, since the US-Iran conflict erupted in late February 2026. Those barrels were released to counteract supply disruptions, particularly the choking of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that serves as the world’s most important oil bottleneck.
How we got here
The SPR was created in 1975 in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo, designed as a cushion against exactly the kind of geopolitical shock that just played out. At full capacity, the reserve can hold more than 700 million barrels. Sitting at 340.3 million barrels, the US is operating with less than half its theoretical buffer.
Overall US oil inventories, combining commercial stockpiles and the SPR, have fallen by 79 million barrels to just 77.6 million barrels, the lowest combined level since 2023.
