Green Options » strategic petroleum reserve

China’s Oil Stockpiling Suggests Fossil Fuel Dependency Unlikely to Decline

Elizabeth Balkan — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:00:08 +0000

In a rare admission of China’s strategic petroleum reserve capacity, a senior industry executive acknowledged that all four state-owned emergency oil reserve tanks – holding a total 100 million barrels – are filled to the brim.

Revealing that China’s current stockpiles have already exceeded the capacity of the first phase of facilities, which the government built over the last two years, China Shipping Group President Li Shaode urged the government to use foreign exchange reserves to finance floating storage capacity in the short term.

Li’s comments come after a string of recent oil- and gas-related events in China. Within the last few months, China has entered into natural gas supply agreements with Myanmar, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and has already begun construction on needed pipelines. Just yesterday, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) signed a 25 year gas supply agreement with Qatar.

U.S. to Resume Filling Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Timothy B. Hurst — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:42:53 +0000

Last week sustainablog asked what your government was doing about peak oil. With all the layers of government to which I am subjected, I immediately thought to myself that there is no short answer. Now, at the very least, I have a partial answer: My federal government is preparing for peak oil by topping off the tanks of the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve.

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced that it plans to take advantage of the recent decline in crude oil prices, and will purchase approximately 12 million barrels of crude oil for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to replenish supplies sold following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Obama Pushes Back with Renewed Focus on Energy

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:18:36 +0000

Reveals “New Energy Plan For America” in Michigan

From Senator McCain blaming Barack Obama for high gas prices, to the House GOP’s recent (and ongoing) faux-libuster demanding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling, there’s no doubt that the Republican Party is pulling out all the stops to make oil the wedge issue in the upcoming election.

But speaking today at Michigan State University, Barack Obama revealed his “New Energy Plan For America,” which he said would create 5 million new jobs and eliminate our need for Middle Eastern oil in 10 years.

Obama’s plan would release light oil from the emergency oil stockpile and replace it later with heavier crude. Light crude oil is easier to refine into gasoline than heavier oil. In 2000, President Clinton used a similar tactic to make oil available at a time of rising oil prices. Obama’s new plan would also create a windfall profits tax on oil companies and a $1,000 energy rebate for families (read it here: Barack Obama’s New Energy Plan For America).

Obama’s remarks today in Michigan are part of a coordinated push-back against his Republican opponent. As part of that push, the Obama camp released a new television commercial linking McCain to Bush, Bush to McCain, and both of them to Big Oil. This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

In his Monday remarks, Obama also pointed to some recent incoherencies found in statements made by John McCain. For example, quoting McCain, Obama said:

“Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country.”

And then he added:

“What Senator McCain neglected to mention was that during those 30 years, he was in Washington for 26 of them.”

The quick McCain camp was quick to shoot back, The Los Angeles Times reports. In a statement emailed to reporters, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said:

“Tapping the strategic oil reserve is not a substitute for a real plan to increase supply through additional drilling and nuclear power.”

Am I just being obtuse, or perhaps someone can help me understand exactly how nuclear power will increase oil supply.