What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the world's largest emergency oil stockpile. But why do we have it? Where do we keep it? Find out why the United States created this reserve and where the oil is stored in this episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:29):
with today's question, what is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? The
Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the United States is emergency oil stockpile,
and it's the largest emergency petroleum supply in the world.
The reserve stores about five hundred seventy million barrels of
crude oil in underground salt caverns at four sites along

(00:51):
the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel contains forty two gallons
or a hundred fifty nine liters of oil, so we're
talking about more than twenty billion gallons of oil stored underground.
To create the caverns, workers drill into a salt dome
and then put water into the hold to dissolve the salt.
Each cavern is about two thousand feet deep and holds

(01:13):
about ten million barrels of oil. The government uses salt
caverns because it costs less than storing the oil in
above ground tanks and because the pressure from the earth
will seal up any leaks that might develop. The Energy
Department also says that the temperature difference in the caverns,
which are about two thousand feet below the surface of

(01:33):
the earth, keeps the oil circulating so that the petroleum
maintains its quality. The government chose to put the oil
near the Gulf of Mexico because there are so many
oil refineries nearby and because shipping is readily available. It
costs the federal government twenty one million dollars a year
to maintain the oil reserve, and about people work for

(01:55):
the oil reserve. About a hundred twenty five of those
are government employees and the rest are contractors. The United
States started the petroleum Reserve in nineteen seventy five after
oil supplies were cut off during the nineteen seventy three
seventy four oil embargo. The embargo was a shock to
the U s economy, and the government decided that the

(02:15):
country should never be caught short again. The United States
uses about twenty million barrels of oil every day, and
more than half of that oil comes from imports. A
reserve of sixty days worth of petroleum could keep the
oil flowing in case of a cut off. The last
time that the United States used oil from the reserve

(02:36):
was during the Persian Gulf War in n to keep
oil plentiful and prices stable during that war. For more
on this and thousands of other topics, because it how
staff works dot com. Audible dot com is the leading
provider of digital audio books and spoken word. With over

(02:57):
one tho titles to choose from. Audible lets you listen
to your favorite books anywhere, anytime. Go to Audible podcast
dot com slash stuff Brain to get a free audio
book download of your choice when you sign up today.