1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Audible dot com is the leading provider of digital audio 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: books and spoken word, with over one thousand titles to 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: choose from. Audible lets you listen to your favorite books anywhere, anytime. 4 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: Go to audible podcast dot com slash stuff brain to 5 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: get a free audio book download of your choice when 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: you sign up today. Welcome to brain Stuff from house 7 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com, where smart happens him Marcial Brain 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: with today's question, what is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? The 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the United States is emergency oil stockpile, 10 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: and it's the largest emergency petroleum supply in the world. 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: The reserve stores about five hundred seventy million barrels of 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: crude oil in underground salt caverns at four sites along 13 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel contains forty two gallons 14 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: or a hundred fifty nine liters of oil, so we're 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: talking about more than twenty billion gallons of oil stored underground. 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: To create the caverns, workers drill into a salt dome 17 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: and then put water into the hold to dissolve the salt. 18 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: Each cavern is about two thousand feet deep and holds 19 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: about ten million barrels of oil. The government uses salt 20 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 1: caverns because it costs less than storing the oil in 21 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,559 Speaker 1: above ground tanks and because the pressure from the earth 22 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: will seal up any leaks that might develop. The Energy 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: Department also says that the temperature difference in the caverns, 24 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: which are about two thousand feet below the surface of 25 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: the earth, keeps the oil circulating so that the petroleum 26 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: maintains its quality. The government chose to put the oil 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: near the Gulf of Mexico because there are so many 28 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: oil refineries nearby and because shipping is readily available. It 29 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: costs the federal government twenty one million dollars a year 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: to maintain the oil reserve, and about people work for 31 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: the oil reserve. About a hundred twenty five of those 32 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: are government employees and the rest are contractors. The United 33 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,919 Speaker 1: States started the petroleum Reserve in nineteen seventy five after 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: oil supplies were cut off during the nineteen seventy three 35 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: seventy four oil embargo. The embargo was a shock to 36 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: the U s economy, and the government decided that the 37 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: country should never be caught short again. The United States 38 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: uses about twenty million barrels of oil every day, and 39 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: more than half of that oil comes from imports. A 40 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: reserve of sixty days worth of petroleum could keep the 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 1: oil flowing in case of a cut off. The last 42 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: time that the United States used oil from the reserve 43 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,399 Speaker 1: was during the Persian Gulf War in n to keep 44 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: oil plentiful and prices stable during that war. For more 45 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, because it how 46 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: staff works dot com. Audible dot com is the leading 47 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: provider of digital audio books and spoken word. With over 48 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: one tho titles to choose from. Audible lets you listen 49 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: to your favorite books anywhere, anytime. Go to Audible podcast 50 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: dot com slash stuff Brain to get a free audio 51 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: book download of your choice when you sign up today.