US Releases 500,000 Barrels of Oil From Strategic Reserve

[mystery-ak]

Thursday, 31 Aug 2017 10:57 AM

   
The U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday it would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as Tropical Storm Harvey's disruption of the petroleum industry has spiked motor fuel prices.


The oil will be delivered to the Phillips 66 refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to a department statement. That plant has not been affected by the storm, which has hammered the Gulf Coast for several days.

The release, the first emergency release from the reserve since 2012, includes 200,000 barrels of sweet crude and 300,000 barrels of sour crude oil, the statement said. It was an exchange agreement, meaning the government will loan crude to Phillips 66, which is required to replace the reserve's oil at a later date.

more
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/oil-strategic-reserve-harvey/2017/08/31/id/810903/

[thackney]

Related news:


https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/08/f36/Hurricane%20Harvey%20Event%20Summary%20%2312_0.pdf

As of 03:00 PM EDT, August 31, 10 refineries in the Gulf Coast region remain shut down,
according to public reports. These refineries have a combined refining capacity of 3,075,229 b/d,
equal to 31.7% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 16.6% of total U.S. refining
capacity.

Six refineries had begun the process of restarting, which may take a several days or weeks
depending whether they have been damaged. These refineries have a combined capacity of
1,269,720 b/d, equal to 13.1% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 4.2% of total U.S.
refining capacity.

Two refineries in the Gulf Coast region were operating at reduced rates. The refineries have a
combined capacity of 688,776 b/d, equal to 7.1% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity
and 3.7% of total U.S. refining capacity.

- - - - - - -

Hurricane Harvey Situation Reports August 2017
https://energy.gov/oe/downloads/hurricane-harvey-situation-reports-august-2017

[Fishrrman]

"The U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday it would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as Tropical Storm Harvey's disruption of the petroleum industry has spiked motor fuel prices."

This sounds like a reasonable use of such reserves.

Provided that they restock it once prices are back to normal.

[DB]

Does that really do much good when refining it is the bottleneck?

[Smokin Joe]

Does that really do much good when refining it is the bottleneck?

My question, too. Domestic production is good, but it may be that these facilities depend on imported oil and the facilities for unloading and piping it in are affected. Keeping the run going would be important because a shutdown due to low feedstocks would mean another week off line for a restart.

[jmyrlefuller]

Does that really do much good when refining it is the bottleneck?

There might be some supply bottlenecks in areas not affected by the hurricane.

I'll also note that if crude prices are low, it will also cost less to restock the reserve.

[Smokin Joe]

There might be some supply bottlenecks in areas not affected by the hurricane.

I'll also note that if crude prices are low, it will also cost less to restock the reserve.

500,000 bbls of oil seems like a lot, but that's only half of our daily production in ND.