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US to release 172mn bl from SPR: Update 2

  • Mercados: Crude oil, Oil products
  • 12/03/26

Updates with details of the SPR release

President Donald Trump has authorized a 172mn bl drawdown of crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next four months as part of the IEA's coordinated release of 400mn bl of oil.

The emergency drawdown of crude from the SPR will start "next week" and "will take approximately 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates," US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday. The drawdown announcement came the same day that the IEA's 32 member countries voted unanimously to support the largest-ever release of strategic oil stocks in response to disruptions to supplies arising from the US-Israel war with Iran.

The US has already "arranged to more than replace" the oil it plans to sell with approximately 200mn bl of crude for delivery "within the next year" at no cost to taxpayers, Wright said. The US Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what mechanism it used to secure the future crude delivery to the SPR.

Trump over the last week had been downplaying the effect that the war was having on energy prices, even as diesel prices rose by nearly $1/USG for the week ended on 9 March, the highest weekly increase on record, according to federal data. On Wednesday, Trump said he would draw down the SPR "a little bit" to lower prices and then refill the emergency reserve at a later date.

"We'll do that, and then we'll fill it up," Trump in during an interview in Ohio with television station WKRC.

Trump's 172mn bl crude release is almost as large as the 180mn sale that former president Joe Biden approved in 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The 2022 drawdown tested the capabilities of the decades-old SPR, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in repairs despite only hitting a maximum one-week drawdown of 1.2mn b/d. Trump's sale, in comparison, would require a sustained drawdown of 1.4mn b/d.

The US has the largest emergency oil reserve of any IEA member — the SPR holds 415.4mn bl of crude — and the US has participated in every coordinated release since the IEA was created. Japan and the UK have already committed to releasing 80mn bl and 13.5mn bl, respectively.

The emergency release from the SPR represents an acknowledgment from the Trump administration that its strikes on Iran are likely to have a long-term effect on global energy markets, rather than the short-term effect it expected. The administration has spent the last week downplaying the need for an SPR release.

"We're more than happy to use that if it's needed," Wright said in an interview with CBS on 8 March. "It's a logistics issue. Where do they need oil? They need oil at refineries in Europe and in Asia."

Democrats have attacked Trump for launching strikes against Iran without making it a priority to refill the SPR, or to secure the strait of Hormuz. Last year, his administration bought just 900,000 bl of crude for the SPR, despite Trump saying in his inaugural address he wanted to refill the SPR to the "top" of its capacity. The tax law Trump signed into law only had enough funds to pay for about 3mn bl of crude, or about 1pc of what would be needed to refill the SPR to its authorized capacity of 714mn bl.


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