Where Does The US Gov. Get Oil From

[CWMMA]

Wherever we decide to introduce freedom.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Remember like 15 years ago they said we were gonna run out of oil in like 30 years lol.

 

[Problem Child]

US is now the biggest exporter of crude oil for the first time since the 90s.

 

[Sir Galahad]

My great state of Louisiana.

 

[rj144]

Isn't there a series of caves in Louisiana that the government filled with oil in case of an emergency?

I thought I read that somewhere.

WTF? Why would anyone fill caves with oil.

 

[sloppypie]

I'm not sure what your question is, but domestic oil production/extraction is not performed by the federal government, but by corporations that purchase the land from which oil is drilled, either from private landowners or (increasingly during this shit show of a presidency) or by contracting with the federal government for access to federal public lands.

I believe that, currently, Texas is by far the largest oil producing state and has the largest proven reserves. After that, Alaska, the Dakotas/Montana, and California are often drilled for oil. If I recall, there's a fair amount of activity in Appalachia as well.

i think he may be thinking of the strategic petroleum reserve which is a program run by the department of energy. i'm a bit hazy on the history or it's actual responsibilities, i just happen to remember it when i was studying the oil embargo in the 70s.

and it's not a program where the federal government itself drills for oil, but purchases barrels of crude oil and stores it in case another embargo or shortage occurs. i think that's what he may be thinking of.

edit: well nevermind, looks like some posters knew threw this down before i did. well done sherbros.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

 

[rj144]

Remember like 15 years ago they said we were gonna run out of oil in like 30 years lol.

No, I don't.

 

[Loiosh]

WTF? Why would anyone fill caves with oil.

"Barrels" of oil.

Although your question is hilarious.

 

[therealdope]

Isn't there a series of caves in Louisiana that the government filled with oil in case of an emergency?

I thought I read that somewhere.

Are you confusing that with the national Helium reserves?

 

[therealdope]

WTF? Why would anyone fill caves with oil.

He might be thinking of helium which is trapped in oil wells and used to be stored underground in caverns, now stored in underground tanks.

 

[djacobox372]

The US tries to avoid drilling too much of it's own oil. It's better kept in reserved--buy the resources off of other countries as long as they're willing to sell them.

 

[weich]

WTF? Why would anyone fill caves with oil.

Apparently it's a safe way to store oil:

Individual caverns within a site can be up to 1000 m below the surface, average dimensions are 60 m wide and 600 m deep, and capacity ranges from 6 to 37 million barrels (950,000 to 5,880,000 m3). Almost $4 billion was spent on the facilities. The decision to store in caverns was made in order to reduce costs; the Department of Energy claims it is roughly 10 times cheaper to store oil below surface with the added advantages of no leaks and a constant natural churn of the oil due to a temperature gradient in the caverns. The caverns were created by drilling down and then dissolving the salt with water.

Existing[edit]

• Bryan Mound: Freeport, Texas. 20 caverns with a storage capacity of 254 million barrels (40,400,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.5 million barrels (240,000 m3) per day.[8][9]
• Big Hill: Winnie, Texas. Has a capacity of 160 million barrels (25,000,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.1 million barrels (170,000 m3) per day. This facility is planned to be expanded by 250 million barrels (40,000,000 m3) with a new drawdown capacity of 1.5 million barrels (240,000 m3) per day.[9]
• West Hackberry: Lake Charles, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 227 million barrels (36,100,000 m3) with a drawdown capacity of 1.3 million barrels (210,000 m3) per day.[9]
• Bayou Choctaw: Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 76 million barrels (12,100,000 m3) with a maximum drawdown rate of 550,000 barrels (87,000 m3) per day. This facility is planned to be expanded to 109 million barrels (17,300,000 m3) with a new drawdown capacity of 600,000 barrels (95,000 m3) per day.[9]

Source
A rare tour of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

 

[aerius]

Isn't there a series of caves in Louisiana that the government filled with oil in case of an emergency?

I thought I read that somewhere.

Salt caverns actually. There's series of underground salt caverns filled with oil in LA and TX, at the right depth, salt forms a perfect barrier for containing oil so that it doesn't leak out and contaminate things. Rocks will always have pores & fractures where oil can leak out whereas salt forms a self-sealing barrier that doesn't leak. So what the US government did was find a bunch of salt deposits that were the right size & depth, then pumped in a bunch of water to dissolve the salt & form a cavern, then they drained out all the water and filled it with oil. And that there is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which covers about 70 days worth of US oil imports.