WEBVTT - What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com, where smart happens him Marcial Brain

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<v Speaker 1>with today's question, what is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? The

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<v Speaker 1>Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the United States is emergency oil stockpile,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's the largest emergency petroleum supply in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>The reserve stores about five hundred seventy million barrels of

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<v Speaker 1>crude oil in underground salt caverns at four sites along

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<v Speaker 1>the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel contains forty two gallons

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<v Speaker 1>or a hundred fifty nine liters of oil, so we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about more than twenty billion gallons of oil stored underground.

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<v Speaker 1>To create the caverns, workers drill into a salt dome

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<v Speaker 1>and then put water into the hold to dissolve the salt.

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<v Speaker 1>Each cavern is about two thousand feet deep and holds

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<v Speaker 1>about ten million barrels of oil. The government uses salt

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<v Speaker 1>caverns because it costs less than storing the oil in

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<v Speaker 1>above ground tanks and because the pressure from the earth

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<v Speaker 1>will seal up any leaks that might develop. The Energy

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<v Speaker 1>Department also says that the temperature difference in the caverns,

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<v Speaker 1>which are about two thousand feet below the surface of

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<v Speaker 1>the earth, keeps the oil circulating so that the petroleum

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<v Speaker 1>maintains its quality. The government chose to put the oil

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<v Speaker 1>near the Gulf of Mexico because there are so many

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<v Speaker 1>oil refineries nearby and because shipping is readily available. It

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<v Speaker 1>costs the federal government twenty one million dollars a year

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<v Speaker 1>to maintain the oil reserve, and about people work for

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<v Speaker 1>the oil reserve. About a hundred twenty five of those

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<v Speaker 1>are government employees and the rest are contractors. The United

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<v Speaker 1>States started the petroleum Reserve in nineteen seventy five after

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<v Speaker 1>oil supplies were cut off during the nineteen seventy three

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<v Speaker 1>seventy four oil embargo. The embargo was a shock to

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<v Speaker 1>the U s economy, and the government decided that the

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<v Speaker 1>country should never be caught short again. The United States

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<v Speaker 1>uses about twenty million barrels of oil every day, and

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<v Speaker 1>more than half of that oil comes from imports. A

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<v Speaker 1>reserve of sixty days worth of petroleum could keep the

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<v Speaker 1>oil flowing in case of a cut off. The last

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<v Speaker 1>time that the United States used oil from the reserve

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<v Speaker 1>was during the Persian Gulf War in n to keep

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<v Speaker 1>oil plentiful and prices stable during that war. For more

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