Crude inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 9.1 million bbl last week as the Trump administration continues its program of large releases from the stockpile to help offset supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

There were 365.1 million bbl in the reserve as of Friday. That's the lowest level since mid-April 2024. It's also 50.3 million bbl lower than the recent high of 415,422,000 bbl the reserve contained before the start of the latest release program.

Department of Energy data Tuesday indicates the U.S. has released 29.3 million bbl so far this month.

The reserve now contains 139.6 million bbls of sweet crude and 225.5 million bbl of sour crude, according to DOE data. The latest weekly release included about 2.6 million bbl of sweet crude and about 6.4 million bbl of sour crude, the DOE data show.

The latest release is part of the Trump administration's return-exchange program for releases from the reserve. Under the program, oil is loaned to companies which will return it by next year, along with additional barrels as a premium for the exchange.

The energy department has so far awarded contracts for the loan of 133.3 million bbl of crude from the reserve. The Trump administration in March said the United States would release a total of 172 million bbl from the reserve. The program is part of a pledge by members of the International Energy Agency to release a total of 400 million bbls to deal with supply disruptions after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for shipments of about 20% of global oil supplies.

U.S. crude oil supplies have been pressured by the closure of the strait. The latest Energy Information Administration data show that total U.S. crude inventories fell by 17.8 million bbl in the week ending May 15. It was a 2.1% decline that left supplies at the lowest levels since mid-June of last year.

The declines included a 7.9 million bbl drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories. Inventories, now at 445 million bbl, are 2% below the seasonal five-year average and 1.9 million bbl below this time last year. The week also saw a 9.9 million bbl drop in inventories held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The drop came even as U.S. crude production averaged a near-record 13.7 million b/d.

One reason for the drop was strong export demand, as overseas customers seek U.S. barrels to make up for supply lost due to the strait closure. Crude exports during the week averaged 5.604 million b/d, nearly 2.1 million b/d higher than last year and 874,000 b/d above levels seen at this time in 2024.

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 Donna Harris, dharris@opisnet.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2026 12:59 ET (16:59 GMT)

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