# Oil Executives Differ on the U.S. Reserve’s Practical Withdrawal Floor

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/26858
Published: 2026-10-05T16:55:40.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-05T16:55:40.000Z
Section: Regulation

> The largest share of survey respondents put the floor above 100 million barrels and up to 150 million. The reserve held 285 million barrels on Sept. 18.

Oil and gas executives offered widely varying estimates of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s practical withdrawal floor, leaving no single estimate of how much crude can be drawn as the stockpile stood at 285 million barrels on Sept. 18.

The largest share of respondents, 31%, placed the minimum above 100 million barrels and up to 150 million. Another 21% estimated it above 50 million and up to 100 million, while 19% put it above 250 million and up to 300 million.

The survey collected responses from 125 oil and gas firms from Sept. 16 to Sept. 24. Most respondents’ estimated minimum levels were below the Sept. 18 inventory. Those estimates reflect executives’ views; they do not establish an engineering limit or forecast when the reserve might reach one.

The U.S. is carrying out a previously announced commitment to release 172 million barrels as part of a broader 400-million-barrel commitment by International Energy Agency member nations. On Sept. 29, the Energy Department issued a request for proposals for an exchange of up to 40 million barrels from the reserve.

The reserve holds crude in underground salt caverns. Water pumped into the bottom of a cavern pushes the oil upward for withdrawal.

One survey respondent in exploration and production described the difficulty of forecasting prices: “My oil price crystal ball broke when the administration first hit Iran.”