By: Real America News Updated Apr 2022, 20: pm EDT
The president, Joe Biden, ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic oil reserve of the nation for six months, but where is such an amount of oil.
As part of an attempt to control gasoline prices, which have skyrocketed since that the United States and its allies impose severe sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Biden made the announcement that he described as “historic”.
The president said that it was not known how much gasoline prices could drop as a result of his measure, but suggested that it could be “anything between 10 cents and 35 cents per gallon.”
Gasoline has a average price of $4.20 dollars per gallon nationally, nearly double compared to $2.87 dollars that it cost a year ago, according to AAA.
However, for Americans, in addition to the uncertainty of the price of gasoline in the coming months, there have been some doubts after Biden’s announcement about what is the strategic reserve and where are all those barrels.
What is the strategic reserve?
This is the country’s emergency oil reserve. It is managed by the Department of Energy and maintained for use during emergencies that create oil shortages, such as natural disasters and wars.
The reserves were established after the oil crisis of 1973, when the oil-producing nations of the Middle East imposed an embargo on the United States due to its support for Israel in the Arab-Israeli war.
President Gerald Ford created the reservation in 1975, with the signing of the Energy Policy and Conservation Law, which authorized a reserve of up to 1,000 million barrels of oil.
? Where is it located?
According to the Department of Energy, oil is stored in a system of 60 underground caverns perforated in salt rock, extending from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Freeport, Texas.
To extract it, according to the newspaper Los Angeles Times, as oil is lighter than water, water is pumped into the salt caverns, which makes the oil float to the surface, and there it is captured to send it through pipelines to the refineries.
Is there a danger of running out of reserves?
Before Biden authorized the release of 35 million barrels in November, the reserve had 605 million barrels of oil. As of 25 March, the reserve contained 568 million barrels of oil, according to the Department of Energy.
The release of 388 million barrels would reduce reserve levels to 388 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984, according to GasBuddy Oil Analyst Patrick De Haan.
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