According to a US EIA release, China had the largest strategic oil reserves in the world as of as of December 2025, before the coordinated emergency release agreed following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz (US EIA press release, 20/04/2026). According to analysis, China added large volumes to its commercial inventory during 2025 (average of 1.1 mbl/d) reaching almost 1.4 Gbl of crude oil at the end of the year. Since government-held inventories are not reported by China, the EIA estimated that they held approximately 360 mbl.
After China, the US held the second largest inventory. Through its US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the country held 413 mbl, to which the analysis adds 411 mbl of commercial crude oil inventories within the US, reaching an overall inventory of 825 mbl. As of 10 April 2026, the country held 409 mbl. Japan held the third-largest strategic oil inventories, reaching 263 mbl in government-held inventories, excluding international joint stockpiling inventories or commercial inventories held for strategic purposes pursuant to Japanese law.
After the main three strategic crude reserves, the OECD members within Europe were estimated to have reserves of about 179 mbl by the same period, followed by Saudi Arabia (average of 82 mbl of on-land storage, excluding leased crude oil storage sites in South Korea and in Japan), South Korea (79 mbl), Iran (71 mbl of on-land oil, although the country also reportedly holds a bonded storage in China with an unknown inventory level).
The UAE held an average of 34 mbl of on-land oil inventories. However, the country also has an underground storage in Fujairah with an unknown capacity and inventory, and it also reportedly leases storage sites in South Korea, Japan, India. Finally, India, through its Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd. (ISPRL) had 21.4 mbl of crude oil stored as of March 2025 to which an additional 3 mbl of crude oil stored for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) that is not considered part of India’s strategic reserve.
The estimation of the strategic crude reserves of certain countries became harder to calculate due to limitations on the available information. In particular, the current strategic inventories of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran were estimated based on the December 2025 average refinery and commercial inventories reported by Vortexa and Kpler.