SPR hit its lowest level since November 1983!

- American Petroleum Institute (API) reports an unexpected rise in US crude oil inventories by 377,000 barrels, contrary to analysts’ expectations of a 1.3 million barrel draw.
- This year’s crude oil inventory gain now stands at more than 49 million barrels.
- SPR inventory drops for the second week in a row to 369.6 million barrels, the lowest amount of crude oil in SPR since November 1983.
- US crude oil production remains steady at 12.2 million bpd, with a 900,000 bpd decline versus March 2020’s peak and a current 400,000 bpd increase YoY.

WTI gains over $2 per barrel on the week to $81.48, while Brent crude trades up $0.60 off last week’s prices to $85.55.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program.

To manage oil and gasoline prices, the Biden Administration sold 180 million barrels from the reserve at an average price of $96.25 per barrel. They planned to repurchase crude at $67 to $72 per barrel to replenish the reserve, a plan reiterated in December. Recently, the US oil prices dropped to below $70 per barrel from $80 per barrel, which could lead to a potential gain of $4.8 billion if the government repurchases the oil at the current market price.