U.S. commercial crude inventories have erased their entire 2026 build in just five weeks, with massive Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases masking what would otherwise be a far steeper supply drawdown.

As countries scramble to tap all available inventories amid the protracted Mideast supply shock, the US is leading the charge on releasing supplies from its strategic reserves.

At this pace, some commercial inventories could fall to minimum operating levels – thresholds below which storage systems can no longer function efficiently – as early as August