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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) replenishes the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) mainly by buying crude oil and by receiving oil back after temporary exchanges. Purchased oil is delivered to a specified Gulf Coast site and injected into underground salt caverns. An exchange is different from a purchase: the borrower must return the volume received plus additional barrels.
How is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve refilled?
DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves arranges direct crude purchases and exchanges. For a purchase, DOE sets out the quantity sought, the delivery window, the destination and the oil specifications. Suppliers submit offers; DOE evaluates them and awards contracts to bids that meet the requirements. The contracted crude is then transported to its designated site and injected into storage.
For example, DOE announced on November 12, 2025, that it had awarded contracts for approximately one million barrels after receiving 18 offers from six companies. The selected offers met the required quality and specifications, and deliveries to Bryan Mound were scheduled for December 1, 2025, through January 31, 2026. That announcement establishes the award and planned schedule, not whether every scheduled delivery was completed. DOE’s announcement
Refilling costs more than the crude itself. DOE’s FY 2027 budget material describes the SPR Petroleum Account as covering petroleum acquisition, transportation and injection, as well as test sales and drawdowns. The oil must be moved to the right location and put into storage.
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Who buys the oil, and where does it go?
The federal government, through DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves, conducts the procurement. The crude goes to one of four SPR sites on the Gulf Coast: Bryan Mound, Big Hill and West Hackberry in Texas, and Bayou Choctaw in Louisiana. DOE stores it in underground salt caverns. Its historical overview describes the reserve’s design capacity as about 714 million barrels; a 2024 DOE fact sheet gives the more precise figure of 713.5 million barrels. DOE’s SPR overview · DOE’s August 2024 fact sheet
The 2024 fact sheet describes 60 caverns, with an average diameter of about 200 feet and average height of 2,550 feet. These are storage caverns, not above-ground tanks; crude is injected and held underground.
How do purchases, exchanges and sales differ?
| Transaction | What happens to the oil? | What happens afterward? |
|---|---|---|
| Direct purchase | DOE buys crude under a contract specifying requirements, quantity, destination and delivery schedule. | The oil is delivered to an SPR site and injected into storage. |
| Exchange | A company borrows crude, usually to address a temporary disruption. | The borrower returns the full quantity plus additional barrels as a premium. |
| Public sale | DOE sells oil through a competitive auction to the highest bidder. | Sale proceeds may later be used to buy crude for the SPR, but a sale does not itself guarantee a replacement purchase. |
| Congressional mandated sale | DOE sells oil as required by law. | DOE’s August 2024 fact sheet says oil sold under mandated sales is not replenished by the SPR. |
DOE explains the distinction between auctions and exchanges in its sales and exchanges overview. Royalty-in-kind deliveries appear in the historical account of how the reserve was filled, but that method ended in 2009; it is not a current refill route. DOE’s filling overview
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How full is the reserve?
The latest inventory figure established in DOE’s FY 2027 budget material is 415.4 million barrels at the end of February 2026. It is a dated figure, not an October 2026 inventory. The same budget material cites 147 million barrels of previously mandated sales as canceled and 92.6 million barrels still required by the end of FY 2031; those mandate totals should not be treated as current policy without checking the underlying budget material and subsequent law. DOE FY 2027 budget material
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For comparison, DOE reported about 372 million barrels in stock as of August 1, 2024. That older figure is useful only as historical context, not as a current inventory. DOE’s August 2024 fact sheet
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