Data showed that around 8 million barrels were withdrawn from the reserve during the week. This followed withdrawals of 9.1 million barrels in the previous week and 9.9 million barrels in the week ended May 15.
The report also showed that total US crude oil inventories, including commercial and government reserves, declined to 709.8 million barrels from about 878 million barrels recorded in early April.
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The reserve was created after the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s in salt caverns across the US Gulf Coast. It has a maximum capacity of about 713.5 million barrels.
On paper, the reserve has the capacity to release about 4.4 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Department’s website. It takes 13 days for oil from the system to reach the open market after the president orders a sale.
However, an analysis prepared by the Energy Department in 2016 said the actual amount the reserve is capable of releasing may be limited to 1.4 million barrels to 2.1 million barrels per day.
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During the 2022 release following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the amount never topped more than 1.1 million barrels a day, according to an analysis of Energy Information Administration data by ClearView Energy Partners.