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dgrin91today at 7:15 PM4 repliesview on HN

Whats the normal stockpile? Isn't the entire US national strategic oil reserve only enough for like 1 month of US usage? 6 weeks of stockpile does not seem like a crazy number to me.


Replies

fhdkweigtoday at 7:23 PM

It fluctuates wildly based on the whims of who is in charge, but the last alterations of the rules indicates 90 days of US imports (doesn't specify usage).

"International obligations

As a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States must stock an amount of petroleum equivalent to at least 90 days of U.S. imports. The SPR contained an equivalent to 141 days of imports as of September 2016. The United States is also obligated to contribute 43.9% of petroleum in any IEA-coordinated release."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Petroleum_Reserve_(U...

hadlocktoday at 7:51 PM

United has already cut flights by 5%, the article says KLM is cutting ~1% of their flights, both citing fuel shortages. If giant companies on opposite sides of the Atlantic, are saying this is an issue, it's probably worth taking their word for it

jandrewrogerstoday at 7:48 PM

The strategic oil reserve is crude oil. It has to be sent to a refinery before it can be made into things like jet fuel. Some refined products don't have a long shelf-life so it is only manufactured to meet demand.

That "6 weeks" probably reflects oil that is already in the refinery supply chain and is therefore deliverable over the next several weeks. The issue is that the top of that funnel is not being refilled.

The US is an exporter of jet fuel but places like Europe and Asia or more exposed to bubbles in the supply chain.

pwgtoday at 7:36 PM

> Whats the normal stockpile?

For jet fuel? The article does not say, but if they are correct in predicting shortages in six weeks, then the stockpile (if any) is not terribly large.

> Isn't the entire US national strategic oil reserve only enough for like 1 month of US usage?

In any case, whatever it is, crude oil is not yet jet fuel. The crude has to be refined to output jet fuel (and other oil byproducts), and some amount of gulf refinery capacity is also offline due to one or both of damage or inability to export via sea through the strait.