Tank Bottom now!
Cushing tank bottom
Week ending: June 12th 2026 Released: 17th June 2026
You are going to want to see this!
Notable this week
Cushing stocks are at operational tank bottom.
SPR draws another whopper at 8.94mb
The call
While Cushing is shocking (see below), we still have oil out there in the national grid of commercial storage to the tune of 418mb. How much of this is ‘pipeline’ and operational?
The EIA’s “working storage” numbers are measured above the operational minimum - the point below which pump suction fails and you’re pulling water, sediment and degraded crude. Roughly 15% of shell capacity sits below this line and is never counted in reported inventories. At the system level, this is estimated at 80–100mb nationally in shell capacity that’s permanently inaccessible. So this leaves approx 300mb available in the national crude grid system x SPR.
As per a National Petroleum Council study in 1979, they recommend keeping 462mb of crude in the system. We are currently at 418.
For detail of what the NPC consider tank bottoms, have a look at their working schematic here.
Chart of the week-Cushing
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