© Getty Images
Crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is stored in a system of caves carved out of salt rock.
At times of oil problems, such as the one that has arisen due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States government looks to some caves in Louisiana and Texas, in the south of the country.
Oil prices have risen above US$100 a barrel in a volatile market due to the conflict in Europe.
Given this, the US and other countries of the International Energy Agency have decided break free 60 million barrels in an attempt to contain the rise in prices.
The Joe Biden government authorized the injection of 30 million barrels that it will obtain from the strategic petroleum reserve (SPRfor its acronym in English).
Such a deposit is underground and is so abundant that it has allowed the United States to sustain its consumption in difficult times and contribute to the market in situations like the current one.
salt and oil
Physically, the SPR crude oil is stored in a storage system 60 underground caverns perforated in salt rock stretching from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Freeport, Texas.
© Getty Images
Salt is useful to protect the crude because both substances do not mixso these saline deposits are considered as a perfect store.
It has the capacity to hold more than 700 million barrels of crude. As of February 25, there were 580 million barrels, according to the US Department of Energy.
At ground level there is not much to see, just some well heads and pipes.
The pipelines extend for thousands of meters underground and through them high pressure water can be pushed to extract the oil through a simple displacement process.
© Getty Images
Salt caves are not completely stable. They can sometimes crumble through the walls or ceiling, causing damage to machinery that must be carefully replaced.
Its maintenance, therefore, has an important cost: US$200 million per year.
But in return, the United States has emerged victorious in numerous incidents involving disruptions to oil imports.
the country might pass Several months without other sources of oil if it were to require it.
How did it come regarding?
The deposit was created in the 1970s following the economic crisis caused by the oil embargo that Arab countries imposed on Western governments for their support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War (1973).
As a consequence of this cessation in the flow of oil, crude oil prices quadrupled by 1974 and there were shortage problems of fuel in the United States.
People had to stand in long lines to refuel their cars. Some feared that the gasoline they had would be stolen and began to protect themselves by carrying firearms.
© US National Archives
And part of that country’s industrial infrastructure – designed to run on cheap fuel – has been pushed to the brink of obsolescence.
This is how this strategic reserve was established in 1975 in order to protect the United States from the ups and downs of the world oil market and shield the country from problems that may arise in the supply of crude oil.
It fulfilled that function during the Gulf War in 1991 and following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which, by affecting part of the US energy infrastructure, caused oil from the strategic reserve to be used to compensate for the drop.
© Getty Images
In 1974, the oil embargo caused gasoline shortages in the United States.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC World. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXn5f4aGego&t=66s
