U.S. Released 800,000 Bbl of Crude From SPR Last Week — OPIS

The United States released 800,000 bbl of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week, as the total amount of oil released in September remains on track to be the lowest in six months, according to Department of Energy data released Monday.

There were 283.8 million bbl held in the reserve as of Friday. That's the lowest level held in the stockpile since October 1982, the data show.

The latest release was made up entirely of sour crude, leaving current levels at 186.9 million bbl. There are currently also 96.8 million bbl of sweet crude in the reserve.

The weekly release brought to 1.8 million bbl the total amount of oil released from the reserve in September. With less than a week left in September, that's the lowest monthly release since March and also well below the second-lowest release of 19.2 million bbl in August.

Since the start of March, the U.S. has released 131.64 million bbl from the reserve in an effort to diminish the impact of supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration has pledged to release a total of 172 million bbl from the reserve. However, it has so far only awarded contracts for the release of 133.5 million bbl.

Releases from the reserve are being conducted under a return-exchange program, with companies that are awarded barrels agreeing to return them, along with additional oil as a premium for the loan.

The U.S. releases are part of a coordinated effort by International Energy Agency member nations to release a total of 400 million bbl from national stockpiles to deal with global supply disruptions due to the Iran war.

The U.S. continues to release crude from the stockpile, even as production in this country remains near record levels. U.S. crude production averaged 13.923 million b/d over the four weeks ending Sept. 18, 3.3% higher than production during the same period last year, data from the Energy Information Administration show.

Although inventories in the reserve are now at multi-decade lows, U.S. commercial crude inventories are currently 2% above the seasonal five-year average, EIA data show.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Reporting by Steve Cronin, steven.cronin@dowjones.com; Editing by Dean Visser, dean.visser@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2026 15:26 ET (19:26 GMT)