Andy,
Had a look into the size of the SPR, it seems from OPEC's Sept monthly report that it holds around 700mb at full capacity and at 9th Sept it currently holds 699.2mb. The figures are taken from the PDF. Worth a look if anyone's interested.
During August 2005, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) reached its full capacity,
standing at 700.5 mb, after a gain of 2.3 mb. This level is expected to see a drawdown of
30 mb during next month as part of a rescue plan announced by the IEA to compensate for
barrels lost to Hurricane Katrina. The draw could be higher if US refiners take part in a loan
programme of about 10 mb which was announced by the US administration on the wake of
hurricane damages.
further to 6% and 7% respectively compared with end-July levels.
Table 19: US onland commercial petroleum stocks, mb*
Change
1 Jul 05 29 Jul 05 2 Sep 05 August/July 2 Sep 04 9 Sep 05**
Crude oil (excl. SPR) 324.9 318.0 315.0 -3.0 278.5 308.4
Gasoline 215.3 205.2 190.1 -15.1 208.1 192.0
Distillate fuel 117.2 127.3 134.4 7.1 130.5 133.3
Residual fuel oil 37.5 36.2 32.3 -3.9 37.1 32.3
Jet fuel 41.2 40.1 39.4 -0.7 41.8 39.2
Total 1,015.5 1,021.50 1,009.60 -11.9 984.7 1,005.5
SPR 696.3 698.2 700.5 2.3 669.0 699.2
http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2005/pdf/MR092005.pdf