The U.S. released 1.5 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week, as the Trump administration moves forward with a plan to tap the stockpile to help address supply and price concerns amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.

There were 413.3 million bbl in the reserve as of Friday, according to data Monday from the Department of Energy. This included 153.7 million bbl of sweet crude and 259.6 million bbl of sour crude.

Based on previous SPR levels, it appears the latest release involved just about equal amounts of both crudes.

The release comes as the U.S. and other member countries of the International Energy Agency pledged to release 400 million bbl of crude from strategic reserves following U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran in late February. The releases are an effort to address supply disruptions due to the war, which has cut tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. plans to release 172 million bbl from the SPR over the next four months. The oil will be sourced from the Bryan Mound and Bayou Choctaw storage sites in Texas and from West Hackberry, La.

The Trump administration earlier this month said at least half of the barrels will be released through a return-exchange program, under which oil is loaned to companies who will later return it, along with additional barrels as a premium for the exchange, DOE said.

DOE last month awarded contracts for the exchange of 45.22 million bbl. Last week, DOE issued a request for proposals for a second exchange of 10 million bbl from the Bryan Mound site.

Bids to participate in the second exchange are due by noon ET Monday, according to the DOE solicitation.

Based on SPR storage levels when the exchange was announced, there could be 243.3 million bbl left in the reserve once the full release is completed. That would be the lowest level in Energy Information Administration data going back to 1982.

It remains to be seen if the entire planned oil release will be completed if a deal is reached to end the fighting and allow unimpeded tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

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, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 06, 2026 12:41 ET (16:41 GMT)

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