America's Emergency Oil Reserve Is Shrinking Fast [View all]

Source: Newsweek

May 25, 2026 at 05:00 AM EDT


America’s oil stockpiles are shrinking rapidly, with U.S. crude inventories posting consecutive weekly declines, exports surging and the country drawing down from its emergency supplies to offset the impact of the war with Iran on global energy markets.

According to recently released figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), total crude inventories fell by 17.8 million barrels for the week ending May 15. The record drop follows several weeks of similarly steep declines that have brought total stocks (including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) to their lowest level in almost a year.

As analysts told Newsweek, the declines are eroding a critical safety buffer designed to protect the U.S.—and the prices consumers pay at the bump—during major supply shocks, and will offer the country less flexibility to respond if conditions deteriorate further.

Since the beginning of the war on February 28, the closure of the Hormuz Strait—through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil previously passed—has pushed global oil prices to multi-year highs and led to what the director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has called the “largest energy crisis in history.”

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/americas-emergency-oil-reserve-is-shrinking-fast-11983476