The Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Author: Bruce A. Beaubouef

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2007-08-15

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1585446009

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In 1973, the United States and other western countries were shocked by the Arab oil embargo. Lines formed at gasoline pumps; fuel stations ran out of supply; prices skyrocketed; and the nation realized its vulnerability to decisions made by leaders of countries half a world away. In response, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which was signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975, has become the nation’s primary tool of energy policy. Following its first major use during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, officials and policy makers at the highest levels increasingly turned to the SPR to stave off shortages and mitigate rising energy prices. Author and historian Bruce A. Beaubouef examines, for the first time, the interactions that have shaped the development of the SPR. He argues that the SPR has survived because it is a passive regulatory tool that serves to protect energy consumers and petroleum consumption and does not compete with the American oil industry. Indeed, by the late twentieth century, as American import dependency reached new heights, refiners and transporters increasingly relied upon the SPR as a ready resource to help maintain feedstock when supplies were tight or disrupted. In a time of continued vulnerability, this definitive work will be of interest to those concerned with the history, economy, and politics of the oil and gas industry, as well as to historians and practitioners of oil and energy policy.

Evaluation of the Department of Energy's Plan to Sell Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Evaluation of the Department of Energy's Plan to Sell Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Author: United States. General Accounting Office

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13:

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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) plan for selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to analyze: (1) the plan's potential effects on world oil prices; (2) the issues affecting who would get SPR oil under this plan; and (3) how the plan compares with alternative sales mechanisms. GAO found that the plan's market approach would probably limit oil price increases in a severe supply disruption and allow broad participation in the sale. However, there were potential problems identified with oil distribution under the plan. DOE, in taking a market approach to the distribution, plans to award SPR sales contracts to the highest bidders who would be considered eligible buyers. This would allow any foreign country to buy the oil and does not limit the amount that a single buyer could purchase at a given sale. GAO also examined alternative sales methods of interest to Congress, including: (1) the continuous sale of options to buy SPR oil in advance of an oil emergency; and (2) allocation of SPR oil at government-set prices. Most industry representatives opposed the sale of SPR options because of their concerns about the length of time during which options could be exercised and who should be eligible to buy the options. GAO found that uncompetitive allocation of SPR oil would entail administrative difficulties that would undermine its intended benefits since it would be difficult to develop criteria for fair distribution.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Author: Bruce L. Peck

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13:

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The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) of the United States is critical to its national security because of the nation's reliance on oil and refined petroleum products as the cornerstone of its economic and military power. The purpose of the SPR is to provide protection against disruption of the United States' oil supply in times of war, crisis, or natural catastrophe. However, conditions have changed since the SPR was formed that make it increasingly unable to provide the protection required to keep it strategically relevant. The SPR has several limitations that significantly limit its ability to protect against disruptions in petroleum supply, including its location and geography, capacity, composition, and glaring vulnerabilities in United States petroleum supply infrastructure. This paper, based on research and personal observation, asks and answers relevant questions regarding the SPR and concludes with the author's recommendations on how the United States' policy on its SPR should change to meet national security objectives - in the context of today's challenges and those predicted for the future - in order to keep the SPR strategically valuable and relevant until it may be no longer needed.