What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
From time-to-time, we all hear about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the news, usually when gas prices go up. So, what is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Let’s take a look.
Emergency
Many oil dependent countries store a certain amount of oil to create a cushion should something happen to oil supplies. In the early 1970s, Saudi Arabia cut oil shipments to protest an Egypt-Israel brouhaha. The prices around the world spiked and there were huge lines at gas stations. The impact was such that most governments realized they should set aside a certain amount of oil in case the situation ever arose again.
Get A Free Solar Quote Today - Click Here
Strategic
The United States has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is the largest in the world and is controlled by the Department of Energy. The reserve can hold up to 727 million barrels of oil. As of November 30, 2010, the reserve held 726 million barrels of oil. This is the equivalent of about 40 days of oil usage in the United States at 18 million barrel a day, but with one big caveat.
The secret of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is it is supposedly intended to help the public with temporary disruptions. This may be true, but there is one big problem. The facility can only pump out a maximum of 4.4 million barrels a day, much less than the 18 million or so we use each day. The addition of 4.4 million could help, but it isn’t exactly the answer when you consider we import over 12 million barrels a day and very little of it actually comes from the Mideast anymore. Instead, we get it mostly from Canada and Mexico.
Military
So, what is this really for? Many people believe the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will never see the light of day with consumers. Instead, many believe it is maintained for usage by the military if there is ever a problem. I’ll let you decide.
Join Our Free Solar Newsletter
Storage
So, what does the storage facility actually look like? Are there thousands of big tanks just begging to be attacked by terrorist? Nope. The reserve is actually kept in four places along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil is stored in artificial underground caverns that have been carved out of salt deposits. The facilities are in the process of being expanded and a new one is going to be built as well. As of May 2011, the current storage reserves are:
• Bryan Mound in Freeport, Texas holding 254 million barrels
• Big Hill in Winnie, Texas holding 160 million barrels
• West Hackberry in Lake Charles, Louisiana holding 227 million barrels, and
• Bayou Choctaw in Baton Rouge, Louisiana holding 76 million barrels
What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? It is an emergency storage of oil that is supposedly to be used to easy pains in the consumer sector, but is probably intended more for military purposes.
