US ramps up refinery activity<\/p>\n
The US has responded partly by maintaining elevated refinery activity. EIA data showed refinery utilisation climbed to 91.6% of capacity last week as operators attempted to maximize fuel production amid rising demand and tightening global supply conditions.<\/p>\n
Gasoline prices have surged alongside the supply crunch.<\/p>\n
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)<\/p>\n
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was created in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo to provide emergency crude supplies during severe disruptions. <\/p>\n
Stored in underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast, the reserve historically has served as a key buffer against geopolitical shocks and natural disasters.<\/p>\n
Since the Iran war began, the SPR has shed roughly 10% of its holdings.<\/p>\n
Industry publication Oilprice.com reported that US commercial crude inventories have effectively erased all stockpile gains accumulated earlier in 2026 within just five weeks.<\/p>\n
The publication said \u201cmassive SPR releases\u201d were masking what otherwise would appear as a much steeper domestic supply drawdown.<\/p>\n
What inventory decline shows<\/p>\n
Energy market observers say the inventory decline highlights the increasingly global nature of the crisis.<\/p>\n
The US remains one of the world\u2019s largest oil producers, crude prices and fuel markets remain deeply tied to global shipping routes and Middle East supply stability. <\/p>\n
Roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil consumption typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The conflict has also renewed debate in Washington over long-term energy security and how aggressively the government should continue drawing down emergency reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US ramps up refinery activity The US has responded partly by maintaining elevated refinery activity. EIA data showed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-441361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}