Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)

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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 fuel storage of oil maintained by the United States Department of Energy. It is the largest emergency supply in the world with the capacity to hold up to 727 million barrels (115,600,000 m3).

The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. As of December 21, 2012, the inventory was 694.9 million barrels (110,480,000 m3). This equates to 36 days of oil at current daily US consumption levels of 19.5 million barrels per day (3,100,000 m3/d).[1] At recent market prices ($102 a barrel as of February 2012[2]) the SPR holds over $26.7 billion in sweet crude and approximately $37.7 billion in sour crude (assuming a $15/barrel discount for sulfur content). The total value of the crude in the SPR is approximately $64.5 billion. The price paid for the oil is $20.1 billion (an average of $28.42 per barrel).[3]

Purchases of crude oil resumed in January 2009 using revenues available from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina emergency sale. The DOE purchased 10,700,000 barrels (1,700,000 m3) at a cost of $553 million.[4]

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,[5] 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, so it would take over 160 days to utilize the entire inventory.

Facilities

The SPR management office is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The reserve is stored at four sites on the Gulf of Mexico, each located near a major center of petrochemical refining and processing. Each site contains a number of artificial caverns created in salt domes below the surface.

Individual caverns within a site can be up to 1000 m below the surface, average dimensions are 60 m wide and 600 m deep, and capacity ranges from 6 to 37 million barrels (950,000 to 5,880,000 m3). Almost $4 billion was spent on the facilities. The decision to store in caverns was made in order to reduce costs; the Department of Energy claims it is roughly 10 times cheaper to store oil below surface with the added advantages of no leaks and a constant natural churn of the oil due to a temperature gradient in the caverns. The caverns were created by drilling down and then dissolving the salt with water.

Existing

  • Bryan Mound - Freeport, Texas. 20 caverns with a storage capacity of 254 million barrels (40,400,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.5 million barrels (240,000 m3) per day.[6][7]
  • Big Hill - Winnie, Texas. Has a capacity of 160 million barrels (25,000,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.1 million barrels (170,000 m3) per day. This facility is planned to be expanded by 250 million barrels (40,000,000 m3) with a new drawdown capacity of 1.5 million barrels (240,000 m3) per day.[7]
  • West Hackberry - Lake Charles, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 227 million barrels (36,100,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.3 million barrels (210,000 m3) per day.[7]
  • Bayou Choctaw - Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 76 million barrels (12,100,000 m3) with a maximum drawdown rate of 550,000 barrels (87,000 m3) per day. This facility is planned to be expanded to 109 million barrels (17,300,000 m3) with a new drawdown capacity of 600,000 barrels (95,000 m3) per day.[7]

Future

  • Richton, Mississippi. This facility, if built as planned, will have a capacity of 160 million barrels (25,000,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1 million barrels (160,000 m3) per day.[7] The Secretary of the Energy Department, Samuel Bodman, announced the creation of this site in February 2007.[8] This new site is currently facing some opposition.[9]

Retired

  • Weeks Island - Iberia Parish, Louisiana (Decommissioned 1999) Capacity of 72 million barrels (11,400,000 m3). This facility was a conventional room and pillar near-surface salt mine, formerly owned by Morton Salt. In 1993, a sinkhole formed on the site, allowing fresh water to intrude into the mine. Because of the mine's construction in salt deposits, fresh water would erode the ceiling, potentially causing the structure to fail. The mine was backfilled with salt-saturated brine. This process, which allowed for recovery of 98% of the petroleum stored in the facility, reduced the risk of further freshwater intrusion, and helped prevent the remaining oil from leaking into the aquifer that is located over the salt dome.

History

Background

Access to the reserve is determined by the conditions written into the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), primarily to counter a severe supply interruption. The maximum removal rate, by physical constraints, is 4.4 million barrels per day (700,000 m3/d). Oil could begin entering the marketplace 13 days after a presidential order. The Department of Energy says it has about 59 days of import protection in the SPR. This, combined with private sector inventory protection, is estimated to equal 115 days of imports.

The SPR was created following the 1973 energy crisis. The EPCA of December 22, 1975, made it policy for the U.S. to establish a reserve up to 1 billion barrels (159 million m³) of petroleum. A number of existing storage sites were acquired in 1977. Construction of the first surface facilities began in June 1977. On July 21, 1977, the first oil—approximately 412,000 barrels (65,500 m3) of Saudi Arabian light crude—was delivered to the SPR. Fill was suspended in FY 1995 to devote budget resources to refurbishing the SPR equipment and extending the life of the complex. The current SPR sites are expected to be usable until around 2025. Fill was resumed in 1999.

Repletion and suspension

On November 13, 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the SPR would be filled, saying, "The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an important element of our Nation's energy security. To maximize long-term protection against oil supply disruptions, I am directing the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR up to its 700 million barrel [111,000,000 m³] capacity." The highest prior level was reached in 1994 with 592 million barrels (94,100,000 m3). At the time of President Bush's directive, the SPR contained about 545 million barrels (86,600,000 m3). Since the directive in 2001, the capacity of the SPR increased by 27 million barrels (4,300,000 m3) due to natural enlargement of the salt caverns in which the reserves are stored. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has since directed the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR to the full 1-billion-barrels (160,000,000 m3) authorized capacity, a process which will require a physical expansion of the Reserve's facilities.

On August 17, 2005, the SPR reached its goal of 700 million barrels (110,000,000 m3), or about 96% of its now-increased 727-million-barrels (115,600,000 m3) capacity. Approximately 60% of the crude oil in the reserve is the less desirable sour (high sulfur content) variety. The oil delivered to the reserve is "royalty-in-kind" oil—royalties owed to the U.S. government by operators who acquire leases on the federally owned Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. These royalties were previously collected as cash, but in 1998 the government began testing the effectiveness of collecting royalties "in kind" - or in other words, acquiring the crude oil itself. This mechanism was adopted when refilling the SPR began, and once filling is completed, revenues from the sale of future royalties will be paid into the federal treasury.

On April 25, 2006, President Bush announced a temporary halt to petroleum deposits to the SPR as part of a four point program to alleviate high fuel prices.[citation needed]

On January 23, 2007, President Bush suggested in his State of the Union speech that Congress should approve expansion of the current reserve capacity to twice its current level.[10]

In April 2008, Speaker Pelosi called on President Bush to suspend purchases of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) temporarily.

On May 12, 2008, Rep. Peter Welch (D, Vermont) and 63 co-sponsors introduced the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act bill (H.R.6022), to suspend the acquisition of petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.[11]

On May 16, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy said it would halt all deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sometime in July. This announcement came days after Congress voted to direct the Bush administration to do the same. The U.S. Department of Energy did not state when the shipments would resume.[12]

On May 19, 2008, President Bush signed the Act passed by the Congress, which he previously opposed.[13]

On January 2, 2009, the U.S. Energy Department said that it would begin buying approximately 12,000,000 barrels (1,900,000 m3) of crude oil to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, replenishing supplies that were sold after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The purchase will be funded by the roughly $600 million received in 2005 from the emergency sales.

Emergency sales to Israel

According to the 1975 Sinai Interim Agreement signed by the United States and Israel as a precondition for Israel's return of the Sinai Peninsula and its associated oil reserves to Egypt, in an emergency the U.S. is obligated to make oil available for sale to Israel for up to 5 years.[14]

Limitations

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is exclusively a crude petroleum reserve, not a stockpile of refined petroleum fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene. Although there are small-scale (2,000,000 barrels) heating oil reserves in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey under the aegis of the Department of Energy (DOE), the federal government maintains no gasoline reserves on anything like the scale of the SPR. Consequently, while the US enjoys some protection from disruptions in oil supplies, it would have to depend on other stockpiling members of the International Energy Agency for relief from any major disruption to refinery operations. Since no new refineries have been constructed in the US for thirty years, there is little excess refining capacity.[citation needed] This was illustrated during Hurricane Katrina, when many of the Gulf coast oil refining complexes were disrupted for some time.

There have been suggestions that the DOE should stockpile both gasoline and jet fuel, to rectify this weakness.[15] Some countries and zones, such as Australia, have a strategic reserve of both petroleum and petroleum products.[16] In some cases, this includes a strategic reserve of jet fuel.

The former Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman, has said the Department will consider refined products as part of the expansion of between 1 billion and 1.5 billion barrels (240,000,000 m3).

Drawdowns

Petroleum sales

  • 1985 - Test sale - 1.1 million barrels (170,000 m3)
  • 1990/91 - Desert Storm sale - 21 million barrels (3,300,000 m3)
    • 4 million in August 1990 test sale
    • 17 million in January 1991 Presidentially ordered drawdown
  • 1996-97 total non-emergency sales for deficit reduction - 28 million barrels (4,500,000 m3)
  • July–August 2000 - 2.8 million barrels (450,000 m3) to supply the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.
  • September–October 2000 - 30 million barrels (4,800,000 m3) in response to a concern over low distillate levels in the North-eastern U.S.
  • 2005 - Hurricane Katrina sale - 11 million barrels (1,700,000 m3) Katrina shut down 95% of crude production and 88% of natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico. This amounted to a quarter of total U.S. output. About 735 oil and natural gas rigs and platforms had been evacuated due to the hurricane.
  • 2011 - Arab Spring sale - 30 million barrels (4,800,000 m3) non-emergency sale to offset disruptions caused by political upheaval in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East. The amount was matched by IEA countries, for a total of 60 million barrels (9,500,000 m3) released from stockpiles around the world.[17]

Petroleum exchanges and loans

Note: Loans are made on a case-by-case basis to alleviate supply disruptions. Once conditions return to normal, the loan is returned to the SPR with additional oil as interest.

  • April–May 1996 - 900,000 barrels (140,000 m3) lent to ARCO to alleviate pipeline blockage.
  • August 1998 - 11 million barrels (1,700,000 m3) lent to PEMEX in return for 8.5 million barrels (1,350,000 m3) of higher quality crude.
  • June 2000 - 1 million barrels (160,000 m3) lent to Citgo and Conoco in response to shipping channel blockage.
  • October 2002 - 296,000 barrels (47,100 m3) lent to Shell Pipeline Company in advance of Hurricane Lili.
  • September–October 2004 - 5.4 million barrels (860,000 m3) lent to Astra Oil, ConocoPhillips, Placid Refining, Shell Oil Company, and Premcor after Hurricane Ivan.
  • September–October 2005 - 9.8 million barrels (1,560,000 m3) lent to ExxonMobil, Placid Refining, Valero, BP, Marathon Oil, and Total S.A. after Hurricane Katrina.
  • January–February 2006 - 767,000 barrels (121,900 m3) lent to Total Petrochemicals USA due to closure of the Sabine Neches ship channel to deep-draft vessels after a barge accident in the channel.[18]
  • June 2006 - 750,000 barrels (119,000 m3) of sour crude lent to ConocoPhillips and Citgo due to the closure for several days of the Calcasieu Ship Channel caused by the release of a mixture of storm water and oil. Repaid in early October 2006.
  • September 2008 - 250,000 barrels (40,000 m3) loaned to Citgo because it could not secure crude oil in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.
  • September 2008 - 130,000 barrels (21,000 m3) loaned to Placid Refining's Port Allen refinery and 250,000 barrels (40,000 m3) loaned to Marathon Oil due to disruptions from Hurricane Gustav.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ CIA World Factbook site
  2. ↑ Energy Information Agency statistics
  3. ↑ "Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Quick Facts and Frequently Asked Questions". US Department of Energy. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  4. ↑ DOE SPR site
  5. ↑ "The World Factbook - United States". CIA. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  6. ↑ Clanton, Brett (May 27, 2008). "Go past guards for tour of U.S. oil reserve in Freeport". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 [http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/reserves/spr/Plan_for_Expansion_to_1 billion barrels (160×10^6 m3).pdf Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan Expansion To One Billion Barrels Submitted To Congress] (Page 5), United States Department of Energy
  8. ↑ "DOE - Fossil Energy Techline: DOE Takes Next Steps to Expand Strategic Petroleum Reserve to One Billion Barrels". US Department of Energy. December 8, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  9. ↑ Oil reserve site raises ire, Bush policy tested, Reuters, Retrieved on May 16, 2008
  10. ↑ Bush, George W. (January 23, 2007). "President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-24. 
  11. ↑ "H.R.6022 - Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act of 2008". Opencongress.org. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  12. ↑ "EERE News: DOE Stops Filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve". US Department of Energy. May 21, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  13. ↑ "Bush Will Sign Bill Halting Strategic Oil Stockpile". Fox News. May 19, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  14. ↑ Phillips, James (February 28, 1979). "The Iranian Oil Crisis". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  15. ↑ Tejerina, Pilar (September 30, 2005). "Senators propose gasoline reserve". CNNMoney.com. Retrieved 2007-01-24. 
  16. ↑ Australia - Plan to protect oil supply | EnergyBulletin.net | Peak Oil News Clearinghouse
  17. ↑ Smith, Aaron (June 23, 2011). "U.S. to release oil from strategic reserve". CNN. 
  18. ↑ "DOE - Fossil Energy: Quick Facts about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve". US Department of Energy. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  19. ↑ Oil ends up after dip below $100 CNN, retrieved 12 Sept 2008

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