Almost 400 million gun barrel of oil are currently sitting in slews of deep underground caverns in the Deep South of the US . It ’s jazz as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ( SPR ) , and it serves as a big fat cat’s-paw in the in high spirits - stakes secret plan of geopolitics .
Scattered across 61 caverns in Texas and Louisiana along the Gulf Coast , the ulterior storehouse currently holds 396.4 million barrel of crude oil , fit in toofficial statisticsfrom March 28 , 2025 . Today , it has a maximum capacity of 714 million barrels , though historically , it has held even more . capacitance peaked in December 2009 at a record 726.6 million barrelful .
The computer storage are located610 to 1,219 meters(2,000 to 4,000 foot ) below the Earth ’s control surface in salt domes , vast underground formations formed by the slow upward movement of salt through overlying rock bed . These domes pop the question a good surroundings that prevent leak and contamination , making them an idealistic selection for crude crude oil warehousing . It ’s also plainly much cheaper than constructing artificial storage domes or dig caverns .
Map showing the location of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Texas and Louisiana, USA, in 2018.Image credit:US Department of Energy(Public Domain)
Theoildoesn’t just seat here wild . Millions of barrelful are regularly actuate in and out to strategically maintain the US ’s secure position both at dwelling and on the outside stage ( at least , that ’s the idea ) .
The SPR was arrange up in the viewing of the1973 energy crisiswhen a alinement of Arab states imposed a strict embargo against the US and other countries that had backed Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War . The bluff move ship shockwaves through the global saving – skyrocketing prices , economic turmoil , and recollective line at gas stations – and made the US realize how vulnerable it was to upsets in strange oil supplying .
In response , the SPR was jell up by the governing as an emergency oil colour backlog to safeguard against supplying perturbation due to innate disasters , geopolitical conflicts , patronage route closures , shaky external market , and so on . Private oil companies do have their own emergency reserves that can tramp with the punches of a supplying run effect , but nothing on this shell .
deal by theUS Department of Energy , the SPR is able to release oil to the US market to alleviate shortages and lower prices or sell it to other nations when strategically necessary . For illustration , in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 , the reserve released 20.8 million barrels to offset provision perturbation and stabilise prices . If the political science had n’t take that action , Americans would likely have had to yield more at the throttle pump .
There have beendozens of releasesfrom the SPR over the past decades , at least four of which come directly from the orderliness of the President . The most recent was in March 2022 , following Russia ’s intrusion of Ukraine , when the US coordinated with 30 other countries torelease 60 million barrel of oilfrom strategical reserves , with the US contributing half of the load . This collective natural action aimed to stabilize global energy market amid significant supply disruptions because of Russia , a major global supplier of fossil fuels .
However , the whole organization around SPR attracts a gang of unfavorable judgment from all angle . Some indicate that it isinefficient and badly organized . This was highlighted in October 2000 when the SPR auction off significant storage allocation to smaller and relatively unknown firms with little - to - no experience in oil market . Others have contended it has been used for ego - serving political maneuvering . For example , commentatorsaccusedPresident Biden of ordering emergency releases in 2022 to lower accelerator prices and groom favor with voter beforehand of the midterm election .
As the world ’s DOE landscape change and international affairs become progressively mussy , some experts arebeginning to ponderwhether the SPR demand a monumental revamp or a full overhaul .
