Oil in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1983The U.S. government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is at its lowest level since 1983 as inventories that were already low before the Iran war come under increasing pressure. Inventories had been around 600 million barrels at the start of 2022 and fell to 375 million barrels by the end of 2022. When SPR levels hit a low of about 347 million barrels in the summer of 2023, they began to gradually recover and reached 400 million barrels in May 2025. They hit a recent peak of over 415 million barrels in February, before the latest round of drawdowns began in March. Currently, the SPR has a congressionally-authorized maximum of about 714 million barrels of oil, while its highest ever inventory was 726.6 million barrels in December 2009.