I wonder what are the other conditions allowing for a partial withdrawal.
I was always kind of under the impression that the oil reserve was for military emergencies...only. If not, that’s the way it ought to be. We kind of need plenty of oil to run a war.
Its 2 1/2 days of US oil usage. Nacy Pelosi is an idiot. Democrats are not serious.
Meaningless, stupid and dangerous gesture.
The USA uses 21 million barrels PER DAY, so 70 million is three and half days supply.
Not only that, but oil is a WORLD WIDE commodity which uses 80 plus million barrels PER DAY, so 70 million released into a global market is less than a days supply which will cause oil prices to do nothing.
That might even drive oil prices higher because we are sending a message we will not drill
I would like the democrats to please explain how the billions of barrels of oil in ANWR pumping for years would only reduce the gas price by pennies (As they have repeatedly claimed), yet somehow a one time bump of 70 million barrels into the supply is going to be a magic bullet
We can’t reserve our way out of this problem.
Those reserves are necessary for our military in the confrontation with Iran
Once again the Democrats prove they have no clue about how markets establish prices - possibly because they get their money by STEALING IT!
The SPR isn’t oil in the ground. It’s inventory that has already been produced and stored.
Selling any of it reduces inventories on hand and creates a call on future production to replenish the SPR.
Both of these facts put UPWARD pressure on price.
Crude oil is stored rather than gas or other refined products for a couple of reasons: 1) crude oil quality does not degrade over time and 2) this offers flexibility to refine the crude into whatever various products are needed.
The storage was started in 1977, and it is run by the Department of Energy. The maximum capacity is 727 million barrels of crude oil, and as of July 24, 2008, it held 706 million barrels.
Theoretically, that amount represents about a 58 day supply (we import about 12 million barrels a day), but the oil can be only be extracted at the rate of 4.4 million barrels a day and it then it takes about 13 days for it to reach the market.
OK I’m confused. Wasn’t it not too long ago that the Democrats were crying to stop filling the reserves to drive down prices?
pelosi said 700,000,000 barrels this morning... that’s a bit more than available? Besides won’t it drive prices back up when we fill it back up?
Wouldn’t be the first time the Democrats used the SPR as a political tool.
Clinton May Tap Into Oil Reserve Again, Energy Chief Says
By Brian Knowlton
Published: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
WASHINGTON: Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Sunday that President Bill Clinton might order a further release of stockpiled oil in a bid to push down oil prices and improve supply levels ahead of winter.
Amid Republican complaints that Mr. Clinton’s decision Friday to release an initial 30 million barrels of crude oil was a political gesture to aid the candidacy of Vice President Al Gore, Mr. Richardson defended the move as necessary to avert a “potential national emergency” in fuel supplies.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2000/09/25/camp.2.t_5.php
Regardless of the fact that 10% of the SPR is contemplated being tapped for the ostensible purpose of driving down fuel costs, opening up heretofor inaccessible known reserves that would in aggregate double the daily domestic crude production is NOT something to consider.
The single foremost reason why this is so, the environmental protectionist organizations aren't in on the take. If we'd let the environmentalists decide, we'd have drilled a decade ago.
The Audobon Society has leased areas in the 26,000 acre Rainey Sanctuary of Louisiana for petroleum extraction. The society's position has always been: "no offshore drilling". None. And yet...
The annual royalties the Audobon Society recieves look mighty fine on their books. Furthermore, their constituency enjoys the liberty of leveraging those royalties to obtain additional wildlife habitat and promote bird-watching for their constituents. Royalties have amounted to $25 million (Bader & Stroup 1981; Snyder & Shaw 1995).
Nor is the Audobon Society the ONLY environmental organization that condones such activities by its controlling officers. The Nature Conservancy accepts land & monetary donations for the sole purpose for wildlife habitability and conservation.
The Wisconsin chapter recieved title for 40 acres of beach front on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. Shortly thereafter, the chapter receieved a much larger tract of land in northern Wisconsin in exchange for the beach land on St. Croix. Although insisting on some convenants pertainting to development of the St. Croix beach front property, they were happy to make the exchange. Now the chapter owns thousands of acres of an entire watershed containing endangered species of plants considered of greater environmental value than what was sacrificed by allowing development of the St. Croix beach front property.
Furthermore, the Nature Conservancy received from Mobil Oil Company 2263 acre parcel that is the home to Attwater's Prairie Chicken. By the early 1990's the populations of this bird was fewer than 10. They subsequently entered into an agreement with Galveston Bay Resources Houston and Aspects Resources, LLC of Denver to drill for oil & natural gas on their reserve.
Why in the hell did they do that? According to Jay Johnson, East County program manager for Nature Conservancy of Tx, "We believe this could provide a tremendous opportunity to raise funds to acquire additional habitat for the Attwater's prarie chicken..."
I believe there's a similar deal in Michigan. They're happy. As long as they get their money.
This problem is really coming to a head out west w/bear & wolves, etc.. You want to get an evironmentalist to make deer-in-the-headlights look? Ask them just how many bald eagle, bear, wolves, or [fill-in-the-blank] are necessary?
SOURCE: The Independent Review vVII, n.2, Fall 2001, ISSN 1086-1653 (copyright 2001, pp. 217-226)