U.S. SPR Depletion Threatens Further Oil Price Volatility

Crude oil prices are on their way up again, driven by the latest flare-up of hostilities in the Persian Gulf—but they are also up because U.S. crude inventories are down again, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is moving closer to critical levels. The importance of oil inventories came to the fore soon after the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran at the end of February. It was thanks to these inventories that the world avoided a sharp and painful spike in oil prices. The OECD agreed a controlled release of 400 million…