Strategic Petroleum Reserves

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VA Mercury SPR

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an old salt mine in Louisiana which currently holds under 600 million barrels of crude oil. It is intended for emergencies like supply interruptions like the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s.  It is not intended to boost poll numbers.

The 30million barrels Biden is taking form the reserves to try to hold down gasoline prices that are hurting him at the polls would supply the country for about 2 1/2 days. There isn’t enough there to make up for Biden’s anti-energy policies. If he tries to fix the shortage his policies are creating with oil from the reserves, he doesn’t have enough to last until election day.

But when he’s used it all up, what happens if there is a real emergency?

Published by Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

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27 thoughts on “Strategic Petroleum Reserves”

  1. Is it about poll numbers? The election is ten months away.

    Or is it about offsetting some of the lost supply coming from Russia? As your link reports. It may be largely symbolic, but symbols are important when our European partners are dealing with far more serious energy issues.

    I will take reality over your partisan spin. Any day.

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      1. Whatever “anti-petroleum policies” you think you are talking about, they have yet to be implemented. The market does not believe your bullshit. Look at oil futures prices and you will find they are LOWER than current prices.

        https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brent-crude-oil-six-month-spread-steepest-backwardation-record-2022-03-01/

        The real reason for the increase in gasoline prices is the resurgent economy after their artificially low levels in Trump’s last year. And, since you have obviously chosen to ignore the truth, even with these increases, the real price of gasoline at the pump is still far below previous peaks. It was north of $4.00 around here before GW Bush crashed the economy.

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          1. There is no order about the timing of oil leases to be defied.

            The order by the Trump appointed judge is that the government must stick with Trump’s artificially low environment cost factor in reviewing lease proposals and not revert to the pre-Trump assessment criteria. Trump lowered those criteria arbitrarily. Biden restored it to the previous level to fulfill his duty to execute the law – a law that requires EPA to protect the environment. So, many months of analysis need to be reviewed and somehow stay in compliance with other court orders going the other way.

            The “legal reasoning” is bogus because it is not based on the law, but on the judge’s view that realistically considering environmental costs in the lease assessment process will raise energy costs. Indeed, it might, but that is not a legal argument.

            “The market does an excellent job. . .”
            Which is why I referred you to the current state of the oil futures market. If the market believes that President Biden would be significantly cutting oil production the future price would be higher, not lower, than the current price.

            Of course, you skate around the real reason gasoline price is up – a much stronger economy under Biden than under Trump.

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        2. Cancelation of new leases and permits on federal land and waters, cancelation of Keystone XL pipe line, export bans, royalty increases, threats of jailing oil CEOs, the list is too long,, did I say pipe line, pipe line, pipe line. We became energy dependant on day 1 of imbecile in chief Biden but hyper-liberals such as you insult everyone else’s intelligence with your bullshit.
          https://www.heritage.org/energy-economics/commentary/bidens-many-anti-energy-policies-are-hurting-producers-consumers-alike

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          1. Yet we are still at the top of the list of producers in the world.

            Markets drive the prices, not presidential policies. The same argument is made all of the time. When prices go up, it is the president’s fault; when they go down, it has nothing to do with those SAME policies. WTH? Don believes it s is “government interference” in the markets; it’s not.

            Oil companies across the globe, including in this country, are raking in 10’s of millions of dollars in profits. If the producers are so badly effected by presidential policies, why are they making money hand over fist? Can’t have it both ways.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. The profit on a gallon of gasoline is less than on a gallon of milk, and a tiny fraction of the profit on bottled water.

            It is a VERY competitive market.

            There is a very long list of the ways government interferes in the market, and the current administration has plainly said it intends to raise prices to make electrics more competitive, So it breaks Hanlon’s razor, it’s not just incompetence, it is actual malice.

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          3. “It is a VERY competitive market.”

            It is a VERY PROFITABLE market. Prices for the consumer could come down if the suppliers lowered their profits. They could be taking in $9 BILLION per quarter instead of the $15 or so they are making now and still keep their stockholders happy.

            There is no MALICE. You see it that way because you believe it is an attack on the free-market. It’s not, but ya gotta play your fear games.

            Liked by 1 person

          7. “The profit on a gallon of gasoline is less than on a gallon of milk, and a tiny fraction of the profit on bottled water.”

            Those comparisons are meaningless. The main measure of business profitability is return on investment, not the nominal profit per unit. ExxonMobil and the rest of the oil industry are EXTREMELY profitable. The dairy industry is not and is sustained by government subsidies.

            https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2022/0201_ExxonMobil-earns-23-billion-in-2021_initiates-10-billion-share-repurchase-program

            Liked by 1 person

          10. “Profit is proportional to risk, Were it not, people would not make the risky investments.”

            Palpable nonsense. The dairy industry is far more risky than the global oil business. By your axiom it should be a lot more profitable. It isn’t.

            Liked by 1 person

          11. Really? How many dairies had had 20 billion dollar fines?

            How many dairies have spend billions on a pipeline only to have it regulated out of business just before completion?

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          12. “When asked what could be done to lower prices to help people out, she actually laughed at the reporter.”

            Uh. THAT is not what she laughed at.

            Of course, you cannot bring yourself to report honestly. Typical.

            In fact, she laughed at the idea that she – Jennifer Granholm – has a magic wand to increase oil production in America.

            What, did you think no one would actually watch so you could get away with fibbing about it? Sorry.

            Liked by 1 person

          13. I provided a link to the video. She was asked what could be done to increase production to bring prices down and she broke out laughing

            And she needs no magic wand, just take a long vacation and stop messing things up.

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          14. “She was asked what could be done to increase production to bring prices down and she broke out laughing”

            You just cannot help yourself, can you? Again you twist and distort what provoked a laugh.

            She laughed because it was a really STUPID gotcha question. There is NOTHING she personally or the United States can realistically do to cancel decisions made by OPEC. Any increase we might squeeze out would almost literally be a drop in the bucket. It is a global market over which we have almost no control.

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          15. Of course she could increase supply.

            Just get out of the way.

            There are hundreds of thousands of oil field workers just waiting to flood the market.

            All they need is to get her boot off their necks.

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          16. “There are hundreds of thousands of oil field workers just waiting to flood the market.
            All they need is to get her boot off their necks.”

            Utter nonsense.

            There is no boot on anybody’s neck. (But you do love your fascist imagery, don’t you)?

            And there are not “hundreds of thousands of oil field workers” standing around idle. You just made that up. In reality, the oil industry is struggling to find staff needed at current activity levels.

            https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/The-Oil-Industry-Is-Facing-A-Labor-Shortage.html

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    1. Crude Oil Storage by Site (as of January 31, 2022)

      Bryan Mound – holds 218.2 MMB in 20 caverns – 66.6 MMB sweet and 157.5 MMB sour.
      Big Hill – holds 129.9 MMB in 14 caverns – 65 MMB sweet and 74.4 MMB sour.
      West Hackberry – holds 180 MMB in 22 caverns – 102.2 MMB sweet and 83.5 MMB sour.
      Bayou Choctaw – holds 60.1 MMB in 5 caverns – 18.9 MMB sweet and 52.1 MMB sour.

      Less 80 MMB withdrawn since Jan 608 MMB

      ANd, of course, you can’t draw all of it out.

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