U.S. SPR Depletion Threatens Further Oil Price Volatility
Asian Oil Buying Spree Sends Dubai Crude Toward $100 What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… Crude oil prices are on their way up again, driven by the latest flare-up of hostilities in the Persian Gulf—but they are also up because U.S.
crude inventories are down again, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is moving closer to critical levels.
The importance of oil inventories came to the fore soon after the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran at the end of February.
It was thanks to these inventories that the world avoided a sharp and painful spike in oil prices.
The OECD agreed a controlled release of 400 million barrels, and China slashed its oil imports, leaning into its reserve.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been essential for the OECD release.
Its part in the joint release stood at 172 million barrels.
Oil production in the United States has responded to the supply squeeze, but neither as fast or as significantly as some may have hoped as the industry retains its cautious attitude to growth.
federal government has been selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
A lot of this oilhas gone to Europe, which has struggled to secure its oil supply amid its own sanctions on Russian energy and the war in the Middle East.
Yet the latest release of oil from the SPR has come on top of earlier releases, under the Biden administration, that already reduced the level of available oil in the reserve significantly—and that was never fully replenished, leading to a much lower starting point for this year’s release.
The United States is set to release another 39 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under the joint OECD plan.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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