32 Nations Just Emptied Their Oil Reserves. Here’s How Many Days Each Has Left.

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On March 11, all 32 IEA member nations agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves. It is the largest coordinated draw in the IEA’s 50-year history — more than double the 2022 response to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, and nearly seven times the amount released during the 2011 Libya crisis.

The reason: Iran‘s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz removed roughly 16 million barrels per day from global transit. Only 7 vessels are transiting daily compared to a normal 100+. Oil at $119 was the trigger. The reserve release was the emergency brake.

But emergency brakes wear down. We calculated how many days of supply each participating country has left after giving up its share, and the numbers explain why this response can only happen once.

The DropThe Reserve Runway Index 2026

For each country: pre-release stockpile minus barrels released, divided by daily oil consumption. The result is how long reserves last at current burn rates before the tank hits zero.

Reserve Runway = (Pre-Release Reserves - Amount Released) / Daily Consumption

The IEA requires member nations to hold 90 days of net import coverage. After this release, most of Europe fails that test.

Who Released What

The United States shouldered 42% of the total — 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, pushing the SPR to its lowest level since 1984. Japan committed 80 million barrels, the largest draw in Japanese history. South Korea‘s 22.5 million barrels was a record for KNOC. The G7 accounted for roughly 70% of all barrels released.

The Runway: Days Remaining After the Release

*US days calculated on net import basis (~6.5M bbl/day), not total consumption. The US produces ~13M bbl/day domestically.

After the release, only Japan still meets the IEA’s 90-day requirement among major consumers. Germany drops to 76 days. France to 70. Italy to 54. The UK to 39. Australia — the only IEA member that already failed the 90-day floor before the crisis — drops to 27.

The US SPR at 243 million barrels is the lowest since 1984. On a net-import basis that is approximately 37 days of coverage. For context, the SPR held 714 million barrels at its peak in 2009.

Why Japan Survives and Everyone Else Doesn’t

Japan holds 470 million barrels across government, private, and joint stockpiles — 254 days of supply before the release, 124 days after. That is not an accident. Japan’s entire energy policy since the 1973 oil shock has been built around never being caught short again. The result is the deepest strategic reserve relative to consumption of any major economy.

South Korea followed a similar path after the Asian financial crisis, building KNOC’s nine storage bases to hold 146 million barrels. Even after releasing a record 22.5 million, it retains 49 days — below the IEA floor but structurally better positioned than Europe.

The European picture is different. Germany, France, and Italy held reserves at or just above the 90-day minimum before the crisis. They had no buffer. The release pushed all three below the threshold, meaning they are now out of compliance with the IEA standard they helped create.

How This Compares to Previous Releases

The 2026 release is 2.2 times larger than 2022 — but the supply disruption is 5 times worse. The Hormuz blockade removed 16 million barrels per day from transit, compared to 3 million at risk during the Russia response. On a disruption-adjusted basis, the 400 million barrels covers roughly 25 days of the gap. If the blockade holds through April, the math stops working.

What a Second Release Would Look Like

There is no second release. Not at this scale. The US SPR cannot sustain another 172-million-barrel draw without dropping below emergency minimums. Europe is already below the 90-day floor. Japan could contribute again but would fall below 90 days itself.

The IEA designed the reserve system for temporary disruptions — a hurricane, a brief regional conflict, a pipeline accident. The Hormuz blockade is not temporary. It is the chokepoint for 21% of global oil supply, controlled by a country actively at war with the nations drawing from reserves. Every day the blockade continues, the runway shortens. And unlike 2022, there is no Russian oil to reroute. The barrels transiting Hormuz have no alternative route.

Sources: IEA. “Member countries to carry out largest ever oil stock release.” March 11, 2026. (link) | CNBC. “Biggest release of emergency oil stockpiles in history.” March 14, 2026. (link) | Japan Times. “Japan promises 80M barrels.” March 12, 2026. (link) | S&P Global. “South Korea to release record 22.46M barrels.” March 11, 2026. (link) | DOE. “SPR Emergency Exchange.” March 2026. (link) | PBS. “Wealthy nations pledge record release.” (link)