1 Million barrels of “strategic petroleum reserve” gasoline to be sold. How much is that in real money?

Photo above - the US government has 360 million barrels (15 BILLION GALLONS) of gasoline in its strategic reserves. Only a tiny, tiny fraction is shown above, of course.

Warning – if you believe the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is important - and well managed - don't read this. But it IS hilarious . . .

When you Google “1 million barrels of strategic reserve gasoline being sold" you get 1 million links. This story is EVERYWHERE. On every network. Every newspaper. An infinite echo chamber. See sample ABC link below.

With so much noise, I figured this HAD to bull$hit. And I was right. I googled “adding gasoline to the strategic petroleum reserve." The internet still fed me page after page about the 1 million barrel sale. But, near the end there WAS a link to a story about ADDITION of 2.3 million barrels of gas to the SPR. Which took place just last month. See second link at bottom. You CANNOT make stuff like this up.

So if we're adding 2 million barrels last month, and selling 1 million barrels this month, this must be a fine-tuned process related to national defense, eh? That ALSO turns out to be bull$hit. There are 360 million barrels of gasoline in the SPR. So the government is selling 1/360th of the reserve – that's about a quarter of 1%.

If you're a cynic, like me, you immediately start thinking “is this some election year scam to reduce gas prices at the pump?” It's worse, actually. America uses 370 million gallons of gasoline a day. So at 42 gallons per barrel, that 1 million barrels is about 3 hours worth of gasoline, nationwide, for a single day. Yippee . . . we are saved? (check my math, readers)

Before we start blaming Biden, the White House wants you to know this 1 million barrel sale is “required by law”. What law? Senate majority leader democrat Chuck Schumer drafted a bill. This took place in March, while the White House was ADDING 2 million gallons a month to the strategic petroleum reserve. Doesn't this now look like a complete scam? The senate bill provides plausible deniability to the White House if they're ever accused of election year shenanigans. The media is playing along by burying the actual SPR gasoline increases underneath 1 million layers of “hoorah – we now have 1 million extra barrels of gas being sold from the reserves”.

I'm just sayin' . . .

Addendum – Chuck Schumer added a clause to his bill, to prevent China from buying any of the 1 million barrels of gas. In case it wasn't obvious enough that this entire stunt is completely political.

~Biden releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from Northeast reserve in bid to lower prices at pump - ABC News (go.com)~

~U.S. Adds 2.3 Million Bbl to Strategic Petroleum Reserve in April — OPIS | Morningstar~

windinhishair · 61-69, M

Please don't talk about things that you clearly know nothing about. You are talking about two completely different things. The northeast gasoline reserve was created in 2014 following Hurricane Sandy and was intended to serve as a reserve in case of future shortages caused by major events (like a hurricane). The gasoline is stored in New Jersey and Maine. The reserve is indeed required to be liquidated by law, and the million barrels being released WILL ALMOST COMPLETELY DRAIN THE RESERVE.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a reserved for OIL and is held primarily in salt domes underground along the Gulf Coast. It is unrefined OIL, not gasoline. The SPR has been in need of being replenished and the 2.3 million gallons is helping in that regard. That amount is less than 1 percent of the current SPR inventory.

To recap, THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE IS NOT THE NORTHEAST GASOLINE RESERVE. GASOLINE SOLD OFF IN THE NORTHEAST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ADDITIONS OF UNREFINED OIL TO THE SPR IN A DIFFERENT PART OF THE US.

Please do better.

ElwoodBlues · M

@SusanInFlorida Actually, YOUR link directly supports what @windinhishair has said. From your first link; the gasoline sale is part of the shutdown of the 10-year-old Northeast GASOLINE reserve.

The move, which the department said is intended to help “lower costs for American families and consumers,″ follows a mandate from Congress to sell off the 10-year-old Northeast reserve and then close it. The language was included in a spending deal Congress approved in March to avert a partial government shutdown.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/biden-releasing-1-million-barrels-gasoline-northeast-reserve-110438754
Hint: links begin with "https://"

Now about the Strategic PETROLEUM Reserve. Please note that petroleum and gasoline are DIFFERENT commodities.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program. The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. The sheer size of the SPR (authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels) makes it a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy.

https://www.energy.gov/ceser/strategic-petroleum-reserve

More about the gasoline reserve:

The companies buying the gasoline, likely retailers and fuel terminals, will have the fuel transferred or delivered no later than June 30, it said. Some 900,000 barrels will be sold from the reserve's Port Reading, New Jersey, site, and nearly 99,000 barrels from the South Portland, Maine, site.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-close-northeast-gasoline-reserve-with-1-million-barrel-sale-2024-05-21/

Again, gasoline and petroleum are different commodities.

Petroleum refineries in the United States produce about 19 to 20 gallons of motor gasoline and 11 to 12 gallons of ultra-low sulfur distillate fuel oil (most of which is sold as diesel fuel and in several states as heating oil) from one 42-gallon barrel of crude oil.

sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M

@ElwoodBlues 18 U.S. Code § 597 - Expenditures to influence voting

Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and

Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.