US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) crude inventories fell to 282.6 million barrels in the week ending October 23, their lowest level since October 1982. The decline comes as part of a US initiative to release 172 million barrels from the reserve. During the same week, the US Department of Energy authorized an emergency exchange of up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil from the SPR to address a supply disruption affecting Phillips 66’s Lake Charles refinery in Louisiana. Since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, SPR inventories have declined by approximately 132.8 million barrels.