US Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls 3.7 million barrels to 307.7 million, the lowest since March 1983

Data from the US Energy Information Administration, published by Mehr News Agency on Tuesday 6 Mordad 1405 (28 July 2026), show that US strategic crude oil reserves fell by about 3.7 million barrels last week to 307.7 million barrels, the lowest level since March 1983, when the strategic reserve was established.

According to the report, continuing tensions in West Asia and successive drawdowns have brought the reserve close to its minimum operating level of 250 million barrels, a threshold at which the storage caverns run into technical and structural pressure problems and beyond which the US government would need formal authorisation from Congress for any further withdrawal.

The decline limits Washington's room to manoeuvre in restraining world oil prices and raises geopolitical risk in the energy market, a variable that feeds directly into the oil price and therefore into Iran's foreign currency earnings and budget.