Strategic Petroleum Reserve

This article refers to the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve. For other countries see global strategic petroleum reserves

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an emergency petroleum store maintained by the United States Department of Energy. The US SPR is the largest emergency supply in the world with the current capacity to hold up to 727 million barrels (115,600,000 m³) of crude oil. The second largest emergency supply of petroleum is Japan's with a 2003 reported capacity of 579 million barrels (92,100,000 m³).

The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. As of May 07, 2008, the current inventory was 702.0 million barrels (111,610,000 m³). At current market prices ($125 a barrel) the SPR holds over $88 billion worth of petroleum.

On May 13, 2008, the United States Senate voted near-unanimously to temporarily suspend the 70,000 barrel per day shipment of petroleum to the nation's emergency reserve^[1]. The bill is also expected to pass the House of Representatives vote, also on May 13. A temporary halt to SPR stockpiling is hoped to increase oil supplies and thereby reduce the cost of oil, although analysts are divided on whether it will have a meaningful effect to consumers^[2]. Shipments to the Strategic Oil Reserve would resume at the end of 2008.

The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 after oil supplies were cut off during the 1973-74 oil embargo, to mitigate future temporary supply disruptions. According to the World Factbook^[3], the United States imports a net 12 million barrels (1,900,000 m³) of oil a day (MMbd), so the SPR holds about a 58-day supply. However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only 4.4 million barrels (700,000 m³) per day, making it a 160 + day supply.

Summary Provided Under GNU Free Documentation License

Live From The Blogosphere!

Eight Reasons to Release Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote President Bush last week to urge him to sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Here are eight reasons why that's a good idea.

Obama flip flops on Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Read this post »

Idea of the Day: Sell Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Selling a relatively modest amount of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve and promoting oil efficiency could pop the speculative oil price bubble and lower prices.

All the Oil We Need
The United States alone has just more than 700 million barrels of crude oil in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Government stockpiles in Europe add nearly another 200 million barrels of crude and more than 200 million barrels of refined ...

Obama: Tap Strategic Petroleum Reserve
"We should sell 70 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks. Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National ...

Obama to Call for Oil Release From Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Barack Obama is expected to call for releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a broader energy policy speech on Monday. The expected Democratic nominee had previously opposed releasing any oil from the reserve ...

Strategic Petroleum Reserve HOAX
Just woke up in the airplane seat [ vacation!!!! ] in cold sweat - I had a dream that I am LONG OIL and it is Monday and Great American Government and FED decided to be consistent with the full loss of control and do one more dumb thing ...

Barack Obama: Obama on using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The Truth-o-Meter says: Full Flop | Emergency now, but not then?

Obama flip flops on strategic petroleum reserve
Obama Is Proposing To Tap The Strategic Petroleum Reserve. "In a reversal, Barack Obama is proposing tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices, his campaign said Monday." (Tom Raum, "Obama: Tap ...

Obama wants to sell oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ...
I figure I've blathered on enough about windfall profits taxes, so how about another proposal in Obama's energy plan--selling oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? There are 700 million barrels of oil in the SPR--enough to cover ...

Go Home