What counts as a reserve
The dataset covers stocks held for emergency purposes: government stocks in state storage, stocks held by a central stockholding entity, and industry stocks held under a legal stockholding obligation. Ordinary commercial inventories above the obligated level are excluded. Where a source publishes a combined figure, the page says so.
Holding models
Government: the state owns the stock and the storage. Agency: a central stockholding entity owns or controls the stock, funded by levies on industry or consumers. Obligated industry: refiners and importers must hold a set number of days of supply on their own sites. Mixed: a combination, most often government crude stocks alongside obligated product stocks.
Units
Figures are printed in the unit the source publishes. Eurostat reports thousand tonnes. The United States reports barrels. Japan reports kilolitres in product equivalent. No conversion is applied inside any table, because crude and product tonnes convert at different rates and a silent conversion would invent precision.
Announced and delivered
Announced is the volume pledged at the decision date. Delivered is the volume official sources record as moved. Where no final delivered total is published, the delivered field reads not stated. Estimates by third parties are never entered as delivered figures.
Confidence grades
Verified: the record rests on an official page or dataset read directly. Partial: most fields are verified, and the country page states which field rests on secondary reporting. Reported: used in the event ledger where an action is documented by credible reporting but no official figure was published.
Update cadences
| Source | Cadence | What it feeds |
|---|---|---|
| EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report | Weekly | United States level |
| Eurostat nrg_stk_oilm | Monthly | All 27 EU member levels and histories |
| METI and Agency for Natural Resources and Energy | Monthly | Japan level and cover days |
| IEA and DOE releases | Event driven | Collective actions and the event ledger |
| KNOC, ISPRL, national ministries | Irregular, checked monthly | Korea, India and other non EU national levels |
| China National Bureau of Statistics and NEA | Irregular, checked quarterly | China official disclosures, when any are made |
Known gaps
China does not publish a current strategic reserve level. Its page records the last official disclosure and its date, and no estimate is substituted. The United States weekly history chart is pending: the EIA retired the legacy data feeds behind its old series pages in a site redesign, and the replacement route is being restored. The current United States level is taken from the Weekly Petroleum Status Report each week in the meantime. Czechia's Eurostat return for August 2026 shows 360 thousand tonnes against 2,031 thousand tonnes in July; it is printed as published and may be a partial return.