Oil fell again on Friday as traders worried about an oversupplied market, and word came from US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that the US may take several years to replenish the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The major global benchmarks fell over 3% Friday, adding to losses from the previous day. European benchmark Brent crude fell 3.3% to $73.41 per barrel, as US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures plummeted 3.5% to $67.49 per barrel.

Stephen Brennock, PVM Oil analyst said, “The lack of crude buying for the SPR represents a major blow to the oil-demand outlook,” adding “it will heap even more pressure on China to do the heavy lifting on the demand side over the coming months.”

Both benchmarks had fallen to their lowest levels in 15 months earlier in the week, as traders watched the risks in the global banking sector with a wary eye, fearing they could be the catalyst for a recession which would put massive downward pressure on oil demand.

Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities, said, “There is a sell-off from the view that the United States will not refill oil reserve even if the WTI prices are at $67-$72 a barrel.”

The White House had previously said, after releasing 221 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that it intended to repurchase oil to refill the reserve once prices of crude had declined to roughly $67-$72 per barrel. However now Granholm said in remarks to lawmakers, that it will be difficult to take advantage of the lower prices this year, and it may take several years to replenish the reserve,

Currently the SPR holds 372 million barrels of crude oil, a significant decline from the 638 million it held at the start of 2021, and the lowest quantity seen since December of 1983.