The U.S. released 3.7 million bbl from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with stockpiles falling below the 310 million bbl mark for the first time in more than 43 years.

There were 307.7 million bbl held in the reserve as of Friday, according to data Monday from the Department of Energy. That included 110.6 million bbl of sweet crude and 197 million bbl of sour crude, the data show.

Stockpiles are now at their lowest levels since mid-March 1983, according to the data.

The latest release included 2.2 million bbl of sweet crude and 1.6 million bbl of sour crude.

The U.S. has released a total of 14.5 million bbl so far in July and more than 107.7 million bbl since the Trump administration began a series of releases from the stockpile to offset supply disruptions due the war in Iran.

The administration has pledged to release a total of 172 million bbl from the reserve, part of a coordinated effort by International Energy Agency member nations to release a total of 400 million bbl from national stockpiles.

Releases from the U.S. strategic 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.

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

July 27, 2026 12:27 ET (16:27 GMT)

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