US Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks have fallen to their lowest level since October 1982, dropping to 283.8 million barrels.
The decline followed an authorisation in March of a 172 million-barrel release as part of a coordinated international effort to contain oil prices. About 133 million barrels were released through swaps with Shell, Vitol and Trafigura, which were contracted to return 1.25 barrels for every barrel received, with deliveries scheduled to begin next year.
A range of 250–300 million-barrel is generally considered necessary for efficient operations.
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Awww Stumpie, I guess the US can pillage Venezuela’s reserves, since illegally attacking them and abducting their head of state. Oh but its tough to process their oil and the chances of a revolution are pretty decent, which is why a lot of oil companies don’t want to go there. Oh dear……
Where’s all that Venezuelan oil then?