Oil Vaults
The two oil storage sites traders watch: Cushing, Oklahoma (WTI delivery hub) and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana). Updated every Wednesday when the EIA publishes.
🔔 The numbers, in your inbox
The weekly receipts letter, a daily vault briefing if you want it, and an alert when a record breaks. No noise, unsubscribe anytime.
Weekly receipts letter · optional daily briefing · record-break alerts · unsubscribe anytime
Cushing Slips Below 20 Million, Screams Tight
Cushing, OK
WTI delivery point — pros watch this number first
Over the past ~13 weeks it has drained down faster than usual, among the quickest 6% of stretches like it on record. That pace is easing off.
All-time detail →Strategic Petroleum Reserve
US government stocks in salt caverns
Over the past ~13 weeks it has drained down faster than usual, among the quickest 3% of stretches like it on record. That pace is easing off.
All-time detail →Draining faster than usual
All-time detail →US crude flows & pricing
World crude stocks
Monthly, as of Apr 2026National crude stockpiles reported by governments to JODI. This is a monthly, country-level view with a roughly two-month reporting lag, so it moves slower than the weekly US numbers above and counts whole-country totals, not individual storage hubs. Biggest month-over-month builds and draws shown.
Biggest builds
Biggest draws
Source: JODI (Joint Organisations Data Initiative). National closing stocks, crude oil.
US oil inventories: common questions
- What is the current US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventory?
- The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve held 311.4M barrels as of July 17, 2026, per the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The SPR is government-owned emergency crude, held separately from the commercial crude inventory that refiners draw on.
- What is the current Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil storage level?
- Cushing, Oklahoma, the WTI delivery point and the largest US commercial crude hub, held 19.4M barrels as of July 17, 2026 (EIA). Cushing levels near tank tops or tank bottoms move the WTI price curve, which is why the storage figure is watched every week.
- What does today's weekly crude oil inventory report show?
- The latest EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, for the week ending July 17, 2026, put US commercial crude at 411.7M barrels, the SPR at 311.4M, and Cushing at 19.4M. The next report is due Wed Jul 29.
- What is the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report and when is it released?
- The Weekly Petroleum Status Report is the U.S. Energy Information Administration's snapshot of national crude oil, gasoline, and distillate stocks. The EIA publishes it every week, typically Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. Eastern, covering the week that ended the prior Friday. Every U.S. figure on this page reads from that report, so check the as-of date for the latest reading.
- What is the difference between a crude draw and a build?
- A draw means inventories fell over the week, so more crude left storage than came in. A build means inventories rose. A draw points to tighter supply relative to demand, and a build points to looser supply. The week-over-week figures here show which way stocks moved, not a price forecast.
- What is the difference between the SPR and commercial crude inventory?
- The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the U.S. government's emergency crude stockpile, held in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast and drawn down only by policy decision. Commercial crude is the oil refiners and traders hold in the working market. The SPR is a strategic backstop, while commercial stocks are the day-to-day supply behind prices.
- Where does this oil data come from?
- The weekly U.S. figures for Cushing, the SPR, commercial crude, gasoline, and distillate come from the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The world crude stocks section comes from JODI, the Joint Organisations Data Initiative, which compiles the monthly national stock levels that governments report.