Global strategic oil reserves explained: How long US, China, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and UK can survive an oil supply crisis

China has an estimated Strategic Petroleum Reserve of 400-500 million barrels. Apart from that, it has commercial stocks of approximately 600–900 million barrels, through Chinese oil firms such as China National Petroleum Corporation, Sinopec, and CNOOC. China consumes about 15-16 million barrels of oil per day, so its reserves could last 80-90 import days.

The US holds approximately 415.4 million barrels of Crude oil in Strategic Petroleum Reserves, stored in underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana and can last up to 20 days. However, SPR is normally used to replace imports. The US normally imports 6-7 million barrels per day, it could replace imports of at least 2 months.

Japan also has massive oil reserves. It has approximately 260 million barrels of Government reserves and 180 million barrels of oil equivalent fuel and 90 million barrels of Crude oil stored across the country in private reserves. The Government reserves could last up to 146 days.

Germany has approximately 110 million barrels of Crude oil reserves and 67 million barrels of finished petroleum products, which can be released within days if needed. These reserves can account for 90 days of net oil imports.

France has approximately 120 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products. These products include Crude oil, Diesel, Gasoline, Jet fuel, and heating oil. These stockpiles are managed by the French strategic storage agency Société Anonyme de Gestion des Stocks de Sécurité (SAGESS). France consumes approximately 1.5-1.6 million barrels of oil per day, so its strategic reserves can account for 90-100 days of import emergency.

Italy's Strategic Petroleum Reserves are managed by Organismo Centrale di Stoccaggio Italiano (OCSIT). It stores approximately 76 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products across refineries and depots throughout Italy. This could account for 90 days of imports in an emergency.

The United Kingdom has a total of 68 million barrels of Strategic Petroleum Reserves. Among them, roughly 38 million barrels are crude oil and 30 million are refined petroleum products. The reserves are largely held by private oil companies and fuel suppliers under government regulations. The UK consumes about 1.4–1.5 million barrels of oil per day. So the reserves could last around 60-90 days.

According to IEA, global oil inventory includes further 1.3 million barrels per day in onshore storage and roughly 80 million barrels in floating tankers. These onshore storage facilities are mostly located in Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. Most of the floating tankers belong to Iran, Venezuela and Russia.