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pookshuman t1_isww39i wrote

what the fuck is the point of calling it a strategic reserve when every president uses it as an economic reserve?

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SideburnSundays t1_iswwqrx wrote

Whenever I read news like this I imagine 15 million, 55-gallon literal barrels of thick black fluid just chilling out somewhere for decades.

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Accomplished_Worth t1_isx2tp3 wrote

Government should have bought a billion barrels when it was it 20 bucks. That is what governments should do. Everything is cyclical. The government ended up making money on TARP

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MyCollector t1_isx7mzb wrote

Replying to Accomplished_Worth (#140,806)

They should hedge and learn from Southwest Airlines. But that requires thinking beyond 2 year house terms and political cycles, something our government completely fails at.

If a Democrat or Republican is going to conceivably “get credit” for the other party’s shrewd calculus, it won’t ever be done.

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Logistocrate t1_isxbn4z wrote

Replying to Accomplished_Worth (#140,806)

Storage concerns probably. Also, bear in mind, America produced, on average, 18.6 million barrels of oil every day in 2021. We consumed about 19.8 million barrels a day during the same period while also exporting around 8.5 million barrels a day.

For a variety of reasons, like refinery setups and taking part in the global economy around import/export, we have chosen to leave ourselves susceptible to OPECs rigging of the global market prices...I'm sure its also just a coincidence that petroleum companies just happen to make record profits when costs are high. Almost as if they don't just raise the pump price to cover increased cost.

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birdpix t1_isxc5ba wrote

Replying to WSL_subreddit_mod (#141,067)

In the 80s, they built pipelines to transport oil to/from the underground reserves right across some of the most wild and pristine parts of coastal Texas and Louisiana. The oil is pumped into old salt mines.

My experience was a shocking before and after, when as a youngster, relatives in SW LA took me out to the swamp (National Wildlife Refuge) before and after the pipeline was built. My 2nd visit was within a year of it being built and it was heartbreaking to see the damage putting it in did, and how almost every support section had a chemically caused circle of death (agent orangish) 10-20 feet in diameter and some icky stains under pipeline. In the midst of the absolute wilds, seeing nothing growing was sad. That and seeing fresh oil spill in Mobile Bay colored my view of the oil industry for the last 40 years.

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johnnyringo117 t1_isxdjem wrote

Why can’t we just stop exporting as much oil as we currently do? Seems stupid to be sending a commodity out of the country that we could refine and use right here.

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Jeremycycles t1_isxmikb wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#142,115)

We weren't stocked up at the time. The plan was specifically to bring the oil reserves to capacity because oil was at decades low prices

Edit - It was over 120 million barrels below capacity

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JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_isxn6l0 wrote

Replying to No___ImRight (#142,086)

It wasn't needed. Obviously because even though we just heavily tapped it we had enough and still have plenty left, we didn't run dry.

We don't need to set our reserve policy based on what's best for the oil industry at that moment, that's beyond moronic. Likewise we don't need the government gambling on oil futures. That's the type of energy policy someone who comes up with the idea of injecting Lysol to cure Covid would come up with.

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itslikewoow t1_isxnkla wrote

Short term fix, but it's not like there's any other good options at the moment. Since oil is a global commodity, Saudi Arabia and Russia have influence over the price of oil whether we like it or not. The solution is to move to renewable energy and transportation solutions (evs, public transit, etc) so that we're not reliant on Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The transition should have begun decades ago, but better late than never. Push for more green energy initiatives if you're tired of our adversaries messing with us economically.

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itslikewoow t1_isxsnn1 wrote

Replying to Jeremycycles (#142,375)

>Does anyone actually listen to what Trump says

He was literally our president...so yes?

>Why did you delete your last comment?

I didn't delete anything, not sure what your talking about. I added an edit to my previous comment though.

−3

Agent_Angelo_Pappas t1_isxve6y wrote

Replying to Jeremycycles (#141,223)

"refill"

They wanted to bring the reserve back to 2008 levels, where the Bush administration had it. The same Bush administration that was so deep in Big Oil's pocket they falsified the existence of WMD's in order to start a war over oil.

We never needed reserves that large which was why we reduced them and kept them lower when a saner administration entered office. If our 2020 reserves weren't sufficient we'd be wiped out right now, but we're still sitting on 400 million barrels and don't need to rush to bring that up.

−6

JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_isxwo0v wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#142,701)

>We’re supposed to have it there in case of war or Arab oil embargo.

If these things happen we can just stop exporting our domestic supply. We largely solved this problem in the wake of Katrina and the huge oil prices in the 2000s. Those shake ups and lasting high prices incentivized the reestablishment of American oil production and we rebuilt our North American supply. That's a big reason why pre-Covid prices were so low compared to the decade prior. We finally had all that 2000s infrastructure coming online.

We currently sell off much of our domestic supply as that light sweet crude sells well on international markets, but if those things you're talking about come to bear we're just going to shut down exports.

The strategic reserve is the small button intended for market corrections. We have a much bigger button to press now if things really hit the fan.

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JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_isxygpm wrote

Replying to Jeremycycles (#142,193)

We can, it's just more lucrative to sell it. A lot of US domestic oil is relatively lighter sweet crude, the kind of crude that is easy to refine. That means it's very in demand on global markets as that's the kind of crude most countries have the technology and infrastructure to handle.

So we sell that stuff off by the boatload, and in return we bring in heavy sour crude. Why? Because it's a pain in the ass to refine, and we're one of the few countries on earth with the infrastructure to do it. Since most other places can't handle it we get it for very cheap, cheap enough that the excess refining cost isn't an issue.

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Jeremycycles t1_isy0ebl wrote

Replying to JohnnyUtah_QB1 (#142,954)

We literally don’t have the refineries in place for light sweet crude oil. You can’t just change the plants to refine a different type. So no we don’t have the capacity to refine the crude oil from the United States.

−1

Hrekires t1_isy0v33 wrote

Replying to johnnyringo117 (#141,423)

It's a mix of the oil industry not being nationalized and under government control but also, not all oil is the same so we end up selling grades that we don't need and buying grades that we do.

−1

RTwhyNot t1_iszuytx wrote

No president from either side should do this. It only provides a few cents relief at the pump and that reserve is there for emergencies.

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Pupwagn t1_it3zz2r wrote

Lets see all those politicians who bought short positions and are looking to cash in when it drops to 70ish per barrel.

1