The SPR withdrawals are scheduled to end just prior to the mid-term elections. What happens if oil markets tighten further, perhaps with OPEC assistance?
Remember that the SPR was intended to diminish the vulnerability of the United States to the effects of a severe energy supply interruption!
Updated SPR “milestones”
- Largest-ever one year decline – 168.2 million bbl or 24.4% (8/13/2020 to 8/19/2022)
- 37.7% decline since 2010
- 72 consecutive weeks of decline – 4/9/2021 to 8/19/2022
- 47 million bbls below the important 500 million barrel threshold which had never before been breached on the downside
- Lowest inventory since 1/11/1985
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 