How Long Will the US Oil Reserves Last? | HowStuffWorks
The U.S. oil reserves have an authorized capacity of 714 million barrels, though the most oil the reserve has ever held was 726.6 million barrels on Dec. 27, 2009. On Oct. 14, 2022, the SPR contained 405.1 million barrels of crude oil. The capacity of the SPR makes it a deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy.