The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) stores crude oil in 60 underground salt caverns across four sites in Texas and Louisiana. The SPR is currently at roughly 48% of its total capacity, holding about 340 million barrels of its 714-million-barrel physical limit. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The SPR is not stored in typical "tanks" where the level physically drops from the top. Instead, these are massive, vertical cylindrical caverns (averaging 2,000 feet deep), and because oil floats on water, the caverns remain full of fluid. As oil is withdrawn, more water is pumped into the bottom, forcing the floating crude level upward. [1, 5, 6, 7]
However, in terms of volumetric fill across the sites, here are the estimated levels for each location:
- Bryan Mound (Brazoria County, TX): Holds roughly 230 million barrels (35% full, 65% drawn) out of its 247-million-barrel capacity.
- West Hackberry (Cameron Parish, LA): Holds roughly 186 million barrels (85% full, 15% drawn) out of its 220-million-barrel capacity.
- Big Hill (Jefferson County, TX): Holds roughly 144 million barrels (85% full, 15% drawn) out of its 170-million-barrel capacity.
- Bayou Choctaw (Iberville Parish, LA): Holds roughly 71 million barrels (93% full, 7% drawn) out of its 76-million-barrel capacity. [8, 9, 10, 11]
(Note: Total barrels per site exceed the national ~340M figure due to scheduled exchange returns and ongoing physical loans.) [4, 12]
Regarding unrecoverable levels, users on r/oil agree that drawing the reserve down to an estimated 44 million barrels constitutes an unrecoverable floor, as extraction becomes physically impractical and could result in permanent damage to the cavern infrastructure. [13]
Sources:
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