The U.S. added 2.7 million bbl of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in May, the highest total so far this year as the last round of Biden administration purchases to refill the stockpile were delivered.

There are now 401.8 million bbl in the SPR, including 145.6 million bbl of sweet crude and 256.2 million bbl of sour crude, according to Department of Energy data released this week.

The May additions included about 1.2 million bbl of sweet crude, the first time in months that sweet crude levels have increased.

May marked the second month that additions to the SPR topped 2 million, DOE data show. The U.S. added a total of 2.4 million bbl in April.

   Levels in the SPR are now above 400 million bbl for the first time since   October 2022. 

SPR holdings, however, remain more than 38% off highs reached in early 2020, before President Biden began tapping the stockpile in an effort to reduce fuel costs. The withdrawals dropped reserve holdings to a low of 346.758 million bbl in July 2023.

Before leaving office, the Biden administration had awarded contracts for oil to be delivered through the first five months of the year. During that period, a total of 8.1 million bbl were added to the reserve, DOE data show.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to continue refill efforts, with Republicans in the House of Representatives last month including $1.5 billion to replenish and maintain the reserve in their budget plan.

That, however, is below the $20 billion Energy Secretary Chris Wright in March said would be needed to refill the stockpile.

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

June 03, 2025 11:00 ET (15:00 GMT)

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