Anthony Andrews
Specialist in Energy and Defense Policy
Robert Pirog
Specialist in Energy Economics
Congress authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975 to help prevent a repetition of the economic disruption caused by the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo. EPCA specifically authorizes the President to draw down the SPR upon a finding that there is a “severe energy supply interruption.” The meaning of a “severe energy supply interruption” has been controversial. The authors of EPCA intended the SPR only to ameliorate discernible physical shortages of crude oil. Historically, increasing crude oil prices typically signal market concerns for supply availability. However, Congress deliberately kept price trigger considerations out of the President’s SPR drawdown authority because of the question about what price level should trigger a drawdown, and the concern that a price threshold could influence market behavior and industry inventory practices. As a member of the International Energy Agency—a coalition of 28 countries—the United States agrees to support energy supply security through energy policy cooperation, commit to maintaining emergency reserves equal to 90 days of net petroleum oil imports, develop programs for demand restraint in the event of emergencies, and participate in allocation of oil deliveries among the signatory nations to balance a shortage.
The Department of Energy (DOE) manages the SPR, which is comprised of 62 underground storage caverns that were solution-mined from naturally occurring salt domes located at four sites in Texas and Louisiana. The 2005 Energy Policy Act directed SPR expansion to its authorized capacity of 1 billion barrels, but the SPR’s physical expansion has not proceeded beyond 727 million barrels. The SPR’s maximum drawdown capability is 4.4 million barrels per day, based on the capacity of the pipelines and marine terminals that serve it. Legislation restricts SPR sales to no more than 30 million barrels over a 60-day period for anything less than a severe energy supply interruption.
Congress initially appropriated funds to fill the SPR through crude oil purchases, but ended that practice in 1994. In 2000, the Department of Energy began acquiring oil to fill the SPR through the royalty-in-kind (RIK) program. In lieu of paying cash royalties on Gulf of Mexico leases, producers diverted a portion of their production volume to the SPR. The Secretary of the Interior administratively terminated the RIK program in 2009.
The DOE has conducted sales and loans of crude oil from the SPR for several different reasons. The 1990 Energy Policy and Conservation Act Amendments expanded SPR drawdown authority to include responding to short-term supply interruptions stemming from situations internal to the United States. U.S. Presidents have authorized emergency sales of SPR crude to meet IEA obligations during the 1990 Persian Gulf War, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and after a prolonged disruption of Libyan crude in 2011. In addition to these emergency sales, the Department of Energy has released oil, from time-to-time, to test the SPR system, make loans to help refiners bridge temporary supply disruptions, and sold oil at the direction of Congress to generate revenue for budget deficit reduction.
The 30.64 million barrel SPR sale in 2011 reduced the SPR’s inventory from 726.6 million barrels to 695.9 million barrels. The SPR currently holds the equivalent of 80 days of import protection (based on 2012 data of 8.72 million barrels per day of net petroleum imports).
Date of Report: June 18, 2012
Number of Pages: 22
Order Number: R42460
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