WASHINGTON, November 9 (HS/RIA Novosti) - The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) could supply American refineries for approximately 17 days if all other sources of crude oil, including domestic production, imports and commercial stockpiles, were unavailable, prominent US economist and energy expert Skip York told RIA Novosti.

On October 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump reached an agreement on Russian diesel exports to US and global markets. Following this, Washington granted temporary authorization for transactions involving Russian diesel, while Moscow partially lifted its export restrictions on the product. The initial agreements provided for the delivery of over 300,000 tonnes of fuel, with an additional 500,000 tonnes scheduled for November and 1 million tonnes to follow thereafter.

If the US were to rely on just the SPR for crude oil supply, EIA [Energy Information Administration] data suggest US refineries could run for about 17 days, which is down 33 percent from the beginning of the Hormuz conflict, York said.

However, he stressed that the United States has considerably greater oil reserves than the SPR alone, as the country also holds commercial stockpiles and continues to produce crude oil domestically.

What's important is not just how much crude oil is in the SPR, but the total amount of oil available in all storage, including commercial stocks, and the rate at which crude oil is being processed. On a days of supply basis, total US stocks is equivalent to almost 42 days of US refining runs, which is down about 20% from when the Hormuz conflict started, York explained.

He added that if the US had to maintain refinery operations while continuing to export oil, its available crude supplies would last approximately 32 days.

On October 28, data from the US Department of Energy showed that, as of the week ending October 23, commercial oil inventories in the United States stood at approximately 410.6 million barrels. Including the SPR, the country held a total of about 693.2 million barrels of oil.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar