The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that the aging US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at risk of failing to meet its mission due to a growing maintenance backlog and the lack of a unified long-term plan between Congress and the DOE.

While DOE has completed some “life-extension work” and “triaged major maintenance needs” as part of its ongoing Life Extension Phase 2 (LS2) project, investments have failed to keep pace with the nearly 50-yr-old reserve’s needs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a June 26 report.

This has resulted in “a growing backlog and looming operational limitations,” the report said, adding that “DOE has identified concerns that significant remaining issues with aging SPR infrastructure will increasingly limit the SPR’s capability to meet fill or drawdown directives.”

Congress must specify priorities and identify a target size for the reserve, and DOE must develop a long-term plan to inform operational and investment decisions for the SPR to meet the US’s evolving energy security needs and international obligations, GAO found.

DOE last completed a long-term strategic review of the SPR in 2016 at Congress’s direction. Congress has failed to mandate a timeline or requirements for the next long-term plan or set a target size for the SPR, and while DOE has drafted several new long-term plans, it has not finalized any.

“Without an updated long-term plan or target size for the SPR, DOE and Congress are making operational and investment decisions amidst uncertainty about what the SPR is capable of at present, what it should be capable of in the future to meet changing U.S. needs and obligations, and what investments and other actions may be required to bridge any gaps,” GAO said.

DOE has also failed to reassess the technical and performance criteria underpinning the reserve’s operational requirements for drawdown and fill rates to reflect significant changes in crude oil markets over the last three decades, the government watchdog group said. “Doing so would inform congressional and DOE strategic planning and investment decisions for the SPR,” GAO wrote.

DOE has released more than 500 million bbl of crude oil from the SPR between 1985 and 2025. More than half was released during emergencies—such as wars or after hurricanes—and nearly 70% of all releases occurred from 2014-25, GAO said.

The 180-million-bbl emergency release in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine tested the SPR’s capabilities, GAO said, noting that it was both the largest drawdown ever and occurred during an extended backlog of deferred maintenance. In March 2026, DOE began a 172-million-bbl emergency release in response to the war in Iran.

GAO recommends Congress mandate a long-term plan, pause non-emergency sales—including currently mandated sales—and create a dedicated funding mechanism for reserve operations. It suggested that Congress consider giving budget authority for DOE to collect and retain a portion of the revenues from any sales or leased assets to cover costs, GAO wrote.

The oversight agency recommended that SPR Project Management Office, in coordination with the Office of Petroleum Reserves, incorporate lessons learned from the 2022 Ukraine-related drawdown—including on the SPR's effective operational capability and limitations—into its long-term plan. The plan should also include lessons learned from the ongoing LS2 project, a $1.42 billion infrastructure modernization and equipment replacement initiative to extend the SPR’s life by 15-25 years and ensure the reserve can maintain its required maximum sustained withdrawal rate of 4.4 million b/d.

While upgrades are complete at several LS2 sub-projects, including at the SPR sites at Bryan Mound, Tex. and Bayou Choctaw, La., supply chain disruptions, inflation and emergency oil drawdowns in 2022 caused DOE to suspend or scale back parts of the project, most notably at the West Hackberry site in Louisiana, according to DOE.