Does Storing Oil Raise Prices?

As oil prices skyrocket, some policymakers want to halt efforts to increase the nation's emergency oil reserve, but the administration says energy security depends on the stockpile's size.

The Department of Energy pulls approximately 70,000 barrels of oil off the market every day for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world's largest oil stash, stored in massive underground salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico's coastline. [...]

"What volume of oil is in the reserve doesn't matter ... because you can't cover your full import rate," Verrastro told UPI, pointing to a greater need to increase the drawdown rate than to increase total volume.

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