Strategic Reserve Tops 600 Million Barrels of Emergency Crude Oil

Goal Remains to Fill Oil Stockpile to 700 Million Barrels

New Orleans, LA - President Bush's directive to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve achieved a new milestone on May 5, 2003, when the nation's emergency crude oil stockpile passed the 600-million-barrel mark. The milestone symbolizes the significant progress made in meeting the President's goal of strengthening our nation's emergency energy supplies.

The 600 millionth barrel arrived at the Reserve's Big Hill site in Texas in a cargo of Santa Barbara sour crude from Venezuela.

In November 2001, President Bush ordered the use of royalty oil transfers to fill the Strategic Reserve to its capacity, calling the Reserve "an important element of our nation's energy security." Royalty oil is the oil owed to the U.S. government by producers who operate on the federally owned Outer Continental Shelf.

Since the directive was issued, the Energy Department, working with the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service, coordinated an exchange of over 21 million barrels of federal royalty oil for oil that meets the Reserve's quality specifications. The SPR continues to grow as additional crude oil is received.

Prior to President Bush's decision to fill the SPR to its maximum capacity, the highest level had been 592 million barrels achieved in 1994. The inventory was reduced between 1996 and 2000 as a result of crude oil exchange initiatives and budget-related sales.

To protect the nation from an imminent disruption in oil supplies, the President could order all or part of the oil released into the market. In the event of such an energy emergency, SPR oil would be distributed by competitive sale. Although used for emergency purposes only once to date (during Operation Desert Storm in 1991), the SPR's formidable size makes it a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool of foreign policy.

The Reserve had passed the 500 million barrel mark in May 1986 - 17 years ago.

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For more information, contact:
Jo Ann Rochon, 504/734-4731 or Tim Scott, 504/734-4586