The US strategic oil reserve at the end of the week ending June 26 decreased by 5.536 million barrels to the lowest level since May 1983, 325.655 million, according to a weekly review by the Energy Information Administration of the Ministry of Energy of the country.
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The level of strategic reserves was lower at the end of the week to May 20, 1983, when it amounted to 324.116 million barrels.
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The US strategic oil reserve has been declining since September 2021, and in less than two years (by August 2023) about 275 million barrels, or about 45%, were withdrawn from it. After that, stocks began to replenish.
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In total, less than 70 million barrels of oil were returned to the reserve in two and a half years. The level remains almost twice as low as the September 2021 value of 620 million barrels.
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In March, the head of the country’s energy ministry, Chris Wright, announced that the United States plans to release 170 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve in order to replenish it by 200 million barrels over the next year. The delivery of the announced 172 million barrels will take about 120 days.
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When the planned volume of 172 million barrels is released from the strategic reserve, less than 250 million barrels may remain in the reserve. This could be a historic low for the entire time of statistics – since August 1982.
