[September 19, 2026] – According to OilPrice.com, API estimated U.S. commercial crude stocks jumped 7.14 million barrels in the week ended 11 September, reversing the prior week’s 300,000-barrel draw.
The generally accepted operational minimum for oil in the SPR is between 250-300 million barrels, below which the reserve may find it difficult to pump and process oil efficiently.
Despite that weekly build, commercial crude (ex-SPR) is still down just over 41 million barrels across the last 22 weeks and up nearly 10 million barrels year-to-date, with SPR releases helping cap the commercial tally.
Another 400,000 barrels left the SPR that week, leaving the reserve at 285 million barrels—446 million below maximum capacity and near the 250–300 million barrel operational floor where drawdown and processing become harder.
Product tanks also filled: gasoline inventories rose 1.46 million barrels and distillates 1.61 million barrels, after EIA had them 5% and 13% below the five-year average, respectively.
Cushing—the WTI futures delivery hub and key tank-farm node—kept tightening, down 246,000 barrels after a 300,000-barrel drop the week before, even as U.S. crude output rose to 13.947 million bpd.
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