Oil in
Reserve Warehouses Falls Sharply Disrupting Supply
The amount of oil and fuel stored by businesses and governments has fallen
sharply since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
·
Global
reserves of oil,
gasoline, and other fuels
are declining rapidly due to disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israeli conflict with
Iran.
·
Falling
stockpiles are increasing pressure on Donald
Trump to reach
a peace agreement with Iran.
·
A successful
deal could restore oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy
shipping routes.
·
The world
consumes around 100
million barrels of oil per day.
·
Oil inventories
have fallen sharply in major importing countries such as:
o Japan
o South Korea
·
The United States, despite being the world's largest oil producer,
is also drawing down reserves while increasing exports.
·
The U.S.
is conducting a withdrawal of 172
million barrels from its
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
·
Government
oil reserves are expected to fall to their lowest level since 1983.
·
Lower reserve
levels reduce the government's ability to respond to future energy emergencies.
·
Most Persian
Gulf oil exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
·
Restrictions
and disruptions in the waterway have limited oil shipments and increased market
uncertainty.
·
Analysts
warn that until normal traffic resumes, the global oil market will remain fragile.
·
China is believed to hold the world's largest oil
reserves, accounting for roughly one-third of known global stockpiles.
·
Reports
suggest China has not significantly reduced its reserves, though exact levels remain
uncertain.
·
Inventories
of:
o Gasoline
o Heating fuel (fuel oil)
o Jet fuel
are particularly low in many regions.
·
No major
shortages have occurred yet, but experts warn that prices could rise significantly
if supply disruptions continue.
·
Consumers
may face:
o Higher fuel prices.
o Increased transportation costs.
o Rising energy expenses.
·
Regions
dependent on imported fuel, such as coastal areas of the U.S., are especially vulnerable.
The continued depletion
of global oil reserves highlights the importance of restoring stable energy supplies
through diplomatic efforts. While widespread shortages have not yet emerged, declining
inventories and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are increasing risks to global
energy security and could lead to higher fuel prices if tensions persist.
[ABS News Service/13.06.2026]
The world is quickly depleting its stores of oil, putting more pressure
on President Trump to reach a deal with Iran that would quickly get more fuel flowing
out of the Persian Gulf.
Vast stockpiles of oil, gasoline and other fuels have helped fill
the hole in global energy supplies created by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. But
those reserves, which companies and governments stash in giant steel storage tanks
and underground salt caverns, are running low in some places. This week, U.S. government
stockpiles were poised to hit their lowest levels since 1983.
That ominous milestone was overshadowed by Mr. Trump’s announcement
on Thursday that the United States and Iran were close to striking a peace deal.
His statements sent international oil prices below $90 a barrel, well above prewar
prices but nowhere near the highs hit earlier in the war.
Still, it is far from clear what a truce might entail. Unless the
supply of oil and fuels improves — and quickly — consumers around the world may
face much higher energy costs.
There is little consensus about when or where this may come to a
head, but energy experts broadly agree that until more oil is able to flow through
the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway on Iran’s southern coast, the market will
remain worrisomely fragile.
“Soon enough, we’ll run out of shock absorbers,” said Antoine Halff,
a co-founder of the research firm Kayrros and a former
chief oil analyst at the International Energy Agency.
The world uses around 100 million barrels of oil every day. Reserves
have dwindled especially quickly in places that depend heavily on imports, such
as Japan and South Korea. The United States, the world’s biggest oil producer, is
also draining its tanks as companies ramp up exports to supply the rest of the world.
Persian Gulf countries, on the other hand, have been stockpiling,
and not by choice. The closure of the strait has meant that most of them can sell
much less oil than normal, and so are stuck holding much more fuel. Some have managed
to get more vessels through the strait in recent weeks, providing some relief.
And then there is China. The country has what is widely believed
to be the world’s largest cache of oil — roughly a third of all known reserves,
according to the research firm Kpler — and appears to
have barely touched it. It is possible, Mr. Halff said, that China is tapping underground
reserves that are harder to monitor.
“China is one of the biggest question marks, the biggest puzzles,”
Mr. Halff said.
The picture becomes more troubling when looking at inventories of
specific fuels. Stores of gasoline and fuel oil, used for heating, are especially
low around the world, particularly for this time of year.
Still, the world is not yet facing widespread shortages.
“We have less oil in the world, and it is starting in the corners
here to show up in end-use markets,” said Rick Joswick, an oil analyst for S&P
Global Energy. “But there’s no smoking gun I can point at and say, ‘Aha, these airports
are not getting their jet fuel, or these consumers can’t get their gasoline.’”
In places like the United States, prices at the pump would probably
climb long before fuel tanks were depleted, analysts said. Coastal regions like
the Northeast and California, which depend on a lot of imported oil and gasoline,
are especially vulnerable to price increases.
Yet it is very hard to predict when or where fuel supplies might
fall low enough for that to happen.
“There are various choke points, and it’s really hard to model which
might come first,” said Daniel Sternoff, a senior fellow at the Columbia University
Center on Global Energy Policy.
To understand why, just look at jet fuel. Early in the war, many
analysts and executives worried that some airports in Europe, which buys a lot of
jet fuel from the Persian Gulf, might not have enough for planes to take off. Refining
companies, which turn oil into fuels, responded to high prices by ramping up jet
fuel production while making less gasoline.
U.S. oil reserves are held by businesses or the government. The government
supplies, known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or S.P.R., are essentially a
last line of defense, available in case of emergencies.
The United States is partway through a 172-million-barrel withdrawal,
one of its largest ever. That will leave the reserve, a collection of salt caverns
in Texas and Louisiana, emptier than it has been in almost a half century, soon
after the 1970s oil crises, when it was being filled for the first time.
There is still plenty of company-owned oil available in the United
States and elsewhere. But the depletion of the S.P.R. will leave the federal government
with less flexibility to support the market if the United States and Iran fail to
complete a deal or shipping remains constrained.