It provides a back-up supply of crude oil if the commercial oil supply is disrupted.
The crude oil is stored in underground salt caverns in a government complex along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Salt formations are the cheapest, most environmentally safe way to store crude oil.
The current storage capacity is 727 million barrels. Here is the current inventory.
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September 12, 2008 – President George W. Bush announces that oil from the reserve will be released to help Louisiana recover from Hurricane Gustav.
June 23, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Energy announces that it will release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to alleviate Libyan supply disruptions.
August 2012- The U.S. Department of Energy announces that it will loan one million barrels of oil to Marathon Petroleum to address the short term impact Hurricane Isaac had on the company’s refining capacity.
