2026-08-31T10:03:59.2Z / 路透社
华盛顿/休斯敦，8月31日（路透社）——美伊以三国战事已持续六个月，由于过去五届美国总统持续动用老化的战略石油储备，美国政府如今在安抚紧张的石油市场方面可能更加力不从心。
这个由美国在1970年代石油危机后设立的战略石油储备，依托得克萨斯州和路易斯安那州沿岸的600个地下盐穴储存原油。在前总统乔·拜登和唐纳德·特朗普两届政府持续释放储备后，该储备规模已降至1982年以来最低，仅余2.897亿桶。
如果特朗普按照今年3月与国际能源署达成的协议，最终释放3900万桶储备，那么这一数字将进一步降至约2.43亿桶。今年2月28日美以发动对伊朗战事之后，全球30多个国家当时同意创纪录释放4亿桶原油，其中美国贡献了1.72亿桶，以图稳定市场。
国际能源署4亿桶原油释放计划十大贡献国
盐穴中部分洞窟高度堪比帝国大厦，原油漂浮在水面之上。随着更多原油被抽出，水位会上升，可能损坏洞窟壁以及抽取原油的管道和泵组。
美国能源部一位消息人士透露，战略石油储备的最低运营水平为7000万桶。
得克萨斯农工大学石油工程教授悉达多·米斯拉表示，尽管战略石油储备的绝对物理下限为7000万桶，但安全运营的实际最低水平接近2.5亿桶。
“该储备的核心使命是在危机期间迅速向市场供油，”米斯拉说，“但运营规模低于2.5亿桶会将基础设施置于危险地带。”他补充称，其个人观点不代表校方立场。
特朗普上周日表示，美国将使用委内瑞拉原油为战略石油储备补仓，但目前尚不清楚这一举措能多快补充储备或降低汽油价格。美国预计本周将与委内瑞拉达成协议，旨在重振该国遭受重创的石油工业，这可能使美国掌控其已探明原油储量的五分之一。
特朗普政府释放的1.72亿桶战略石油储备是以贷款形式发放的，企业必须以额外约4000万桶原油加利息的形式偿还，这一数量约等于美国两天的原油使用量。还款工作要到今年晚些时候才会启动，预计2028年底才能全部完成。
ClearView能源合作伙伴公司分析师凯文·布克上周日晚在一份研究报告中指出，无论美国是直接将委内瑞拉原油运往战略石油储备，还是出售原油以筹款购买美国原油用于补仓，全面补充储备“可能需要数年时间”，且可能因美国国内和委内瑞拉的选举进程而中断。
积弊已久
战略石油储备的原油短缺由来已久。得益于2008年开始的美国石油繁荣，该国如今已是石油净出口国，因此国际能源署要求成员国储存相当于90天石油净进口量的储备这一规定已不再适用。
2021年起，拜登政府与国际伙伴协调释放了约2.3亿桶原油以压低油价，其中包括2022年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后创纪录的1.8亿桶抛售。
美国曾开始补充战略石油储备，但伊朗战事打断了这一进程，且资金也已耗尽。去年国会仅拨款1.71亿美元用于储备补充，远低于当时所需的约200亿美元。
美国能源部未立即回应置评请求。
一些限制措施已显现端倪。美国法律规定，若战略石油储备规模降至2.524亿桶以下，总统不得下令进行常规性小幅释放。但针对重大紧急情况，总统仍可下令释放储备。
美国政府问责局今年5月发布的一份报告显示，战略石油储备的洞窟总体状况良好，但由于 ongoing必要维护工作，能源部对油井的完整性表示担忧。
“战略石油储备的抽取、输送和加注能力目前受限，且未来仍面临风险，原因是长期存在的基础设施老化问题，加上为解决这些问题正在进行的大型工程建设也带来了干扰。”该局表示。
政府问责局发现，由于包括在建工程停工在内的一系列问题，战略石油储备快速加注和抽取原油的能力正面临风险。
基础设施老化削弱战略石油储备应急释油能力
政策灵活性下降
战略与国际研究中心能源安全与气候变化项目高级助理克莱顿·西格尔在8月24日的一场活动中表示，战略石油储备规模“岌岌可危”。他称，原油储备缓冲以及欧佩克快速增产的能力都已非常薄弱，“未来若发生扰乱石油市场的事件，我们的政策灵活性将大幅降低”。
美国石油产量攀升至历史新高
石油市场观察人士对储备规模深感担忧。
“随着储备接近见底，市场参与者会不会更加焦虑？答案显然是肯定的，”达拉斯联邦储备银行能源与经济中心主任卢茨·基利安说，“他们甚至可能质疑，剩余的任何原油释放是否还能稳定市场。”
如果进一步动用战略石油储备，很可能推高油价，损害经济，基利安表示。
“一旦库存实际上被耗尽，需求破坏就会成为应对石油短缺的唯一手段。”
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Depleted US oil stash loses potency as Iran war grinds on
2026-08-31T10:03:59.2Z / Reuters
WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Six months into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Washington may find it harder to calm jittery oil markets after U.S. presidents drained the aging Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the last five years.
The SPR, which Washington created after the oil crises of the 1970s, holds crude in a series of 600 underground salt caverns along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. After years of releases by former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, the reserve is at its lowest level since 1982, holding just 289.7 million barrels.
The level will drop to about 243 million if Trump releases a final batch of 39 million barrels from a March agreement with the International Energy Agency. More than 30 countries agreed then to release a record 400 million barrels, with the U.S. contributing 172 million, in an effort to calm markets after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.
Top 10 contributors to the IEA’s 400-million-barrel oil release
Oil in the caverns, some of which are as tall as the Empire State Building, floats on top of water. The water level rises as more oil is released, which can damage cavern walls and pipes and pumps that draw out the crude.
A Department of Energy source said the minimum operating level is 70 million barrels.
Siddharth Misra, a professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University, said that while the absolute physical floor for the SPR is 70 million barrels, the practical minimum level for safe operations is close to 250 million barrels.
“The core mission of the reserve is to supply the market rapidly during a crisis,” said Misra. “But operating below 250 million barrels pushes the infrastructure into a dangerous zone,” said Misra, noting his comments do not necessarily reflect his university’s position.
Trump said on Sunday the U.S. will refill the SPR using Venezuelan oil, but it was unclear how quickly that could help replenish the reserve or reduce gasoline prices. Washington is expected to reach a deal with Caracas this week aimed at reviving Venezuela’s battered oil industry, that could give the U.S. control of a fifth of its vast proved crude reserves.
The Trump administration released the 172 million barrels of SPR oil as a loan that companies must repay with interest in the form of about 40 million barrels of additional oil, about what the U.S. uses in two days. That return will not begin until later this year and is not slated to be completed until late 2028.
Kevin Book, an analyst with ClearView Energy Partners, said in a research note late on Sunday that whether the U.S. ships Venezuelan oil directly to the SPR or sells it to fund purchases of U.S. oil for the reserve, a full replenishment “could take years” and be cut short by elections at home and in Venezuela.
LONG TIME COMING
The dearth of oil in the SPR has been a long time coming. Thanks to the U.S. oil boom that began in 2008, the country is now a net total petroleum exporter, so an IEA requirement for members to store 90 days of net petroleum imports no longer applies.
Beginning in 2021, Biden released about 230 million barrels in coordination with international partners to dampen oil prices, including sale of a record 180 million barrels after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Washington began replenishing the SPR, but the Iran war halted that. And money has run dry. Last year, Congress provided just $171 million to replenish the reserve, far below the roughly $20 billion needed at that time.
The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some restrictions are already in sight. U.S. law prohibits the president from ordering routine, small drawdowns if the reserve falls below 252.4 million barrels. The president could still order releases for major emergencies.
The SPR’s caverns are generally in good condition but the Department of Energy is concerned about the integrity of the wells due to ongoing needed work, a Government Accountability Office report said in May.
“The SPR’s drawdown, distribution, and fill capabilities are currently limited and are at risk going forward due to longstanding issues with aging infrastructure compounded with ongoing major construction intended to address them,” the GAO said.
The GAO found that the SPR’s ability to quickly fill and draw down oil is at risk due to problems including ongoing construction outages.
SPR’s emergency oil release capacity reduced by ageing infrastructure
‘LESS POLICY FLEXIBILITY’
Clayton Seigle, a senior associate at the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said at an August 24 event that the SPR level is “precariously low.” The cushion of crude reserves and dwindling ability by OPEC to boost oil output rapidly, “is so thin that we’ll have less policy flexibility in the case of future disruptions” to tame oil markets, Seigle said.
U.S. oil production climbs to record highs
Oil market watchers are concerned about levels.
“Would market participants worry more, as we approach the bottom of the barrel? Clearly, yes,” said Lutz Kilian, director of the Center for Energy and the Economy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “They may even question the ability of the release of whatever oil is left to calm the market.”
If the reserve gets tapped much further, it would likely push oil prices higher, harming the economy, Kilian said.
“Once inventories are for all practical purposes exhausted, demand destruction becomes the only response to a shortage of oil.”
Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington, Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, and Anushree Mukherjee in Bangalore; writing by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio