:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/GE4DCMRNGAZS2MBUKQYDAORRHA.jpg)
At times of oil problems, such as the one that has arisen due to the invasion of Russia to Ukrainethe government of United States looks towards 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.
SIGHT: The reasons why the Russian convoy has “little progress” on its way to Kiev
Given this, the US and other countries of the International Energy Agency have decided release 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).
- “Europe is financing Putin’s whims”
- Israel’s dilemma in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory
- “He has no idea what is coming”: how Biden delivered the biggest warning from a US leader to a Russian one since the end of the Cold War
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.
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.
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 could pass Several months without other sources of oil if it were to require it.
How did it come about?
The deposit was created in the 1970s after 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.
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 after 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.
__________________________
- Ukraine compares bombing of Kiev to that of Nazi Germany in 1941
- Ukraine reports the death of 2,800 Russian soldiers on the second day of the invasion
- Why did Russia invade Ukraine and what are Putin’s arguments for war?
- A shocking audio reveals how Russian soldiers threaten and then kill 13 Ukrainian soldiers on an island
- These are the countries that support Russia and those that are with Ukraine
- NATO activates its defense troops for the first time in history to deter Russia
Source: Elcomercio
