Too soon to tap U.S. oil reserve
A technician at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve inspects crude oil transfer pipe. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy
When gasoline prices spike and consumers yelp, elected officials reflexively look for a quick fix. No surprise then that after the second-largest two-week rise in gasoline prices on record, President Barack Obama is mulling whether to tap the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That's a bad idea.
The reserve - a 727-million-barrel stash of crude oil stored in four caverns along the Texas and Louisiana gulf coasts - should be used to weather significant disruptions in the supply of oil. It shouldn't be frittered away in an effort to mitigate rising prices, which is surprisingly being urged by some who favor a higher gas tax to reduce consumption.
Consumers don't like paying more for gas, and in this case it's a lot more. The average for a gallon of regular gasoline nationally was $3.509 yesterday, according to AAA, up 33 cents from Feb. 18. On Long Island yesterday's average was $3.734.
That increase, driven by insurrection in Libya and jitters about the potential for turmoil elsewhere in the Middle East, is also a threat to the nation's recovering economy. And if prices go even higher - as they generally do when the weather turns warm and demand increases - the grumbling from consumers will grow louder.
But Libya accounts for only 1.8 percent of the world's oil supply. Production lost there can be made up elsewhere. The greater danger is what could happen if the nation's reserve is tapped now and there is some serious supply disruption in the weeks and months ahead. Rolling unrest in the Middle East, from Tunisia to Egypt and now Libya, makes instability in some major oil-producing nation a worrisome possibility.
The strategic petroleum reserve was established in response to a 1973 embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that led to long lines at the nation's gas pumps. It was last tapped in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina shut down refineries along the Gulf Coast. That's the kind of supply disruption that warrants its use.
Oil prices are volatile. When they spike it can be a hardship for homeowners who heat with oil, and for motorists with no ready alternative to driving. Still the best response to rising prices is for consumers to find ways to use less.
