Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Issues Regarding the Inclusion of Refined Petroleum Products as Part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Abstract

The possibility of storing refined petroleum products as part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has been contemplated since the SPR was created in 1975. The SPR, which currently holds about 700 million barrels of crude oil, was created to help insulate the U.S. economy from oil supply disruptions. However, the SPR does not contain refined products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, or jet fuel. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the SPR's capacity from 727 million barrels to 1 billion barrels, which it plans to do by 2018. With the possibility of including refined products as part of the expansion of the SPR, this testimony discusses (1) some of the arguments for and against including refined products in the SPR and (2) lessons learned from the management of the existing crude oil SPR that may be applicable to refined products.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 12, 2009
Accession Number
ADA502464

Entities

People

  • Frank W. Rusco

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Congress
  • Cost Effectiveness
  • Diesel Fuels
  • Fuel Oils
  • Fuels
  • Governments
  • Infrastructure
  • International Relations
  • Jet Engine Fuels
  • Lessons Learned
  • Materials
  • Materials Processing
  • Natural Resources
  • Petroleum
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics