U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) crude oil supplies have fallen to under 300 million barrels, putting it at its lowest level since January of 1983. According to CNBC, the SPR stockpile fell by roughly 6 million barrels for the week of August 3, bringing its total supplies to 298.7 million barrels. Those barrels have been gradually released from the SPR in each month since, peaking in May when nearly 40 million barrels were released. The SPR has the capacity to hold up 714 million barrels of crude oil, and up until recently, it had consistently held more than 540 million barrels dating back to 1990. The SPR acts as an emergency supply of crude oil under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Energy.