What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
In the months preceding Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and less than a year after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait, the world oil market was in jeopardy. With the Middle East responsible for nearly half the United States’ imported crude oil at the time, a disruption in supplies was imminent. The country found itself in a similar situation in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf of Mexico and temporarily wiped out 25 percent of the nation’s domestic production [source: DOE]. In both instances, though, the United States averted disaster by calling on its 727 million barrel secret weapon — the Strategic Petrole
