[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 83 (Wednesday, April 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23437-23441]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-11146]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Strategic Petroleum Reserve; Opportunity for Public 
Comment

AGENCY: Department of Energy, Fossil Energy, Office of Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve.

ACTION: Opportunity for Public Comment on Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
Policy.

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SUMMARY: In preparation for the issuance of an Administration Statement 
of Policy concerning the capacity, size, use, and financing, among 
other issues, of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Department of 
Energy, Office of Strategic Petroleum Reserve, extends this opportunity 
for interested persons to submit written comments. All submissions in 
response to this notice will be made available to the public.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments at the 
address below by June 16, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Mr. Richard D. Furiga, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Strategic

[[Page 23438]]

Petroleum Reserve, FE-40, Room 3G-024 1000 Independence Ave. S.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20585.
    Comments may also be submitted by use of the Internet by linking to 
the DOE Fossil Energy web site at: http://www.fe.doe.gov/spr.html
    Requests for further information may be addressed to: Mr. John D. 
Shages, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, FE-432, Room 3G-052 1000 
Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585, Phone: (202) 586-1533, 
Fax: (202) 586-0835, Internet: [email protected]

Opportunity for Public Comment

    As a result of changes in the overall energy environment that have 
occurred since initial authorization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
(the Reserve) in 1975 and creation of the International Energy Agency 
(IEA) in 1974, and agreement by the Department's witness before the 
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on May 15, 1996, that a 
Statement of Administration Policy on the Reserve would be prepared, 
the Department intends to prepare, on behalf of the Administration, a 
statement of policy addressing fundamental issues affecting the future 
of the Reserve. As an initial step in the development of the Reserve 
Policy Statement, the Department solicits the views of all interested 
persons on the issues listed below. After compilation of the public 
comments, the Administration will conduct an Interagency review of the 
issues, and develop positions on the major issues of the capacity and 
inventory of the Reserve, which will be a touchstone for decisions 
regarding the Reserve, including proposals to use the Reserve's 
inventory for purposes other than energy supply shortages, 
interruptions, and international obligations.

Background on U.S. Oil Emergency Response Policy

Creation of the International Energy Agency and the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve

    Following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the United States determined 
that its vital foreign policy, national security, and economic 
interests were threatened by our dependence on imported oil and the 
possibility of recurring severe supply disruptions. As a result, in 
1975 the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Public Law 94-163 (the 
Act), was enacted, authorizing both American participation in the IEA 
and creation of the Reserve.
    It was intended at the time that the Reserve would serve several 
functions. It would protect the national economy by providing the 
capability to supplement oil supplies in the event of disruptions due 
to political, military, or natural causes. It also would sustain U.S. 
foreign policy objectives, especially in the Middle East, by providing 
the President the freedom to take action free of concern for essential 
oil supplies. The Reserve would provide U.S. military forces with a 
secure source of oil supplies in a crisis. It would also be a deterrent 
to countries or parties that might seek political gain by intentionally 
disrupting world oil exports.
    The Reserve also was intended to fulfill a U.S. international 
obligation. Under U.S. leadership, and drawn together by a common 
interest in maintaining secure oil supplies, 12 industrialized nations 
met in Washington in February 1974 to begin a process that would lead 
to the signing of an Agreement on an International Energy Program. This 
was the charter of the IEA, which today has 23 members. The member 
nations of the IEA agree to take common effective measures to develop 
emergency self-sufficiency in oil supplies and to cooperate in a 
crisis. Each member of the IEA commits to maintaining the equivalent of 
90 days of net oil imports as an emergency reserve. Throughout its 22 
year history, the United States has been the IEA's foremost advocate of 
building and maintaining strategic oil stocks. In establishing the 
Reserve, it was a U.S. goal to lead by example, setting a high standard 
for others to follow.
    At its origin, the IEA adopted an emergency system based on 
allocation of available supplies among the oil importing countries. 
Since then the United States has gained experience with the 
difficulties and negative consequences of price and allocation 
regulations, and the Reserve has moved from being merely a plan, to 
becoming a viable petroleum stockpile. With time, the U.S. position has 
evolved to aggressively advocate use of free markets even in a 
disruption. The existence of the Reserve lends credibility to urging by 
the U.S. to the other member countries that the most efficient response 
to an emergency would be to allow markets to balance supply and demand.
    In order to formalize this position, the United States enunciated a 
policy, in the event of an emergency or shortage, to rely on market 
forces to allocate supply, and to ordinarily supplement supply by the 
early drawdown of the Reserve in large volumes and in coordination with 
our allies and trading partners. This policy recognizes that the best 
way to dampen the price increase associated with an emergency, and 
mitigate the economic impact resulting from a significant disruption, 
is to inject additional supplies into the market in a timely manner. It 
is the U.S. position that the member countries of the IEA, acting in 
concert, can leverage the impact of their collective actions well 
beyond the mitigating impacts of independent action by each state 
acting alone.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Structure

    The Act authorized a Reserve up to one billion barrels and provided 
for a range of policy options such as storage of refined products in 
regional reserves. The Act also required that the Executive Branch 
prepare a comprehensive plan for the Reserve that required approval of 
the Congress, and that substantial changes to the plan be formalized as 
amendments. The plan was submitted, approved, and implemented. The 
Reserve, as planned, consists of crude oil stored in salt caverns 
located on the Gulf Coast. That configuration allows the lowest 
construction, maintenance, and operations costs; the greatest 
logistical flexibility; and the lowest cost for procuring and storing 
petroleum.
    Today the Reserve is composed of five oil storage sites with 
surface facilities consisting of pipes, pumps, motors, meters, and 
other equipment typical of oil storage facilities. Two of the sites are 
in Texas and three in Louisiana, with a Project Management Office 
located in New Orleans. The oil is stored below ground in caverns 
created within salt domes. The total capacity of the caverns is 750 
million barrels, but is being reduced to 680 million barrels by the 
decommissioning of the Weeks Island, Louisiana, storage site due to 
structural instability. The peak oil inventory in the Reserve was 592 
million barrels during the period July 1994-March 1996. Approximately 
18 million barrels of oil were sold in fiscal year 1996, leaving the 
inventory of the Reserve at 574 million barrels of which one-third is 
low sulfur (sweet) and two-thirds high sulfur (sour). During fiscal 
year 1997, the Reserve sold another 10 million barrels of mostly sour 
oil, to raise $220 million in satisfaction of appropriation law 
requirements. The resulting current inventory is approximately 564 
million barrels of oil.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown

    The Act provides the President wide latitude to anticipate and 
react to events that are of an emergency nature, cause petroleum prices 
to rise, adversely impact the national economy and safety,

[[Page 23439]]

or trigger United States international obligations. The authority of 
the President to drawdown the Reserve may not be delegated. Once the 
President makes a finding of an interruption, shortage, or determines 
that drawdown is necessary to meet United States obligations under the 
International Energy Program, the Secretary of Energy has discretion as 
to the volume and type of oil to draw down, and the administration of 
sales is preplanned, including periodic exercises. The Secretary also 
has discretion to draw down and sell up to 5 million barrels of oil to 
test the distribution systems for oil sales. In fiscal year 1986 
Congress directed the Secretary to use the test sale authority to 
conduct a sale of one million barrels. The Secretary also used the test 
sale authority in 1990 after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. There has 
been only one Presidentially directed drawdown, in January 1991. The 
United States, simultaneously with commencement of the air war against 
Iraq, and following activation by the IEA of its coordinated emergency 
response contingency plan for the Desert Storm war, offered for sale 33 
million barrels of oil, and after consideration of the bids, actually 
sold and delivered 17 million barrels of crude. Whenever Reserve oil is 
offered for sale, the volume, type, and location of the oil is 
announced in a Notice of Sale. Awards are made to qualified bidders 
solely on the basis of price and the availability of drawdown and 
distribution facilities.

Public versus Private Reserves:

    The obligation of the United States to the IEA is to store the 
equivalent of 90 days of net imports by a combination of Government 
owned reserves and private reserves. While the Government's Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve at one time equated to 118 days of net imports, 
increasing imports, a hiatus in oil acquisition, and the non-emergency 
sales conducted during FY 1996 and 1997 reduced the days of net import 
equivalency to 67 by December 1996. Although the United States has 
urged other members to build government-owned stocks and to move away 
from the regulation of industry, the United States currently satisfies 
its obligation by virtue of private inventories even though those 
stocks are not controlled by the Government for strategic purposes.

Primary Issues

1. Should the United States Continue to Maintain the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve?

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Reserve were created 
in response to the market power of the Arab Organization of Petroleum 
Exporting Countries, as demonstrated by the international embargo and 
price increase of 1973-74. Since then, the geographical location of the 
world's oil reserves, production, and exports have become more diverse. 
Regardless of their causes, recent price increases appear to be self 
correcting by attracting increased supply.
    In addition, the existence of Government owned strategic reserves 
may dampen or eliminate incentives for private industry to carry 
inventories in excess of immediate operational needs. Within the 
context of this question the Department solicits views on private 
sector inventory behavior and the private sector's likely inventory 
response to decommissioning the Reserve.
    The cost of the Reserve is approximately $200 million per year for 
operations, maintenance, construction, and management, exclusive of any 
costs of acquiring oil. The Reserve is currently in the fourth year of 
a seven year Life Extension Program to extend the useful operating life 
of all critical Reserve systems to the year 2025. After completion of 
the Life Extension (construction) projects, the annual budget for 
operations, maintenance, and management of the Reserve will be 
approximately $150 million per year. The United States is unique among 
oil stockpiling countries in assigning all of the cost of the Reserve 
to the general taxpayer. Most other stockpiling countries partially 
shift the cost burden to the oil industry by requiring that their oil 
companies maintain inventories in excess of working needs. The Energy 
Policy and Conservation Act (the Act) provides authority to the 
Secretary of Energy to require private companies to create an 
Industrial Petroleum Reserve. If it is desirable to maintain a Reserve, 
the Department solicits views on whether the Government should 
privatize the management and cost of strategic stockpiling. 
Alternatively, if the Government continues to manage the nation's oil 
stockpiles, the Department solicits views on whether the cost should be 
borne by oil importers, refiners, or consumers rather than the general 
public.

2. What Should be the Size and Composition of the Reserve Facilities 
and Oil Inventory?

    The United States' international obligation (under the Agreement on 
an International Energy Program) is, as a Nation, to maintain petroleum 
stocks equal to 90 days of net imports. Based on calculations by the 
International Energy Agency in the Spring of 1996, the United States 
has 157 days of imports, approximately 74 of which are provided by the 
Reserve. The remainder are private inventories that are calculated by 
the International Energy Agency to be stocks available during an 
emergency. However, the Federal Government has no control over these 
private stocks.
    As of November 1, 1996, the Reserve had an effective capacity of 
680 million barrels, and an inventory of 571 million barrels of crude 
oil. After completion of the sales directed by the FY 1997 
appropriations act, the Reserve will have an inventory of approximately 
564 million barrels of oil. The Act authorizes a Reserve of up to 1 
billion barrels, and had an initial target of 90 days of net imports.
    The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, which contains the 
configuration of the Reserve, provides only for crude oil storage. 
Although regional, refined product storage was authorized in the Act, 
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan concluded that centralized crude 
oil storage was preferrable both in the interests of cost reduction and 
in the belief that crude oil is the most flexible form of petroleum for 
responding to emergencies. In addition to questions regarding size and 
inventory, the Department solicits views on (1) whether the philosophy 
of private inventory managers of refined products regarding stock 
maintenance has changed permanently within the last few years, (2) 
whether other circumstances that bear on the analysis of regional and 
refined product storage have changed with time, and (3) the option of 
storing refined products either centrally or regionally.
    In 1990, the Reserve capacity reached 750 million barrels. However, 
due to geologic instability the Department is decommissioning the Weeks 
Island, Louisiana site and its 70 million barrels of capacity. In 1992, 
the Act was amended to require the Administration to prepare an 
amendment to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan for an expansion of 
the Reserve to one billion barrels. The Administration has postponed 
submitting this amendment to reflect the reality that the inventory of 
the Reserve is not increasing, and in

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1994 and 1995 proposed an amendment to the Act that would require the 
preparation of its expansion plan only when it becomes likely that 
funding sufficient to fill the existing Reserve facilities becomes 
available.
    The Act also requires that inventory be added to the Reserve at the 
rate of 75,000 barrels of oil per day. This requirement has been waived 
for many years in annual appropriations acts, and the volume of crude 
oil acquired has been determined by the spending limits contained in 
that legislation.
    If desired, additional crude oil storage capacity could be added to 
the existing Big Hill and Bayou Choctaw sites. By using the existing 
infrastructure, approximately 100 million barrels could be added at 
those sites at an incremental site development cost of approximately 
$2.00 per barrel. If expansion were desired above 750 million barrels, 
a new site(s) would be required and the cost would be approximately 
$5.00 per barrel. Creation of a new salt dome storage site, requiring a 
National Environmental Policy Act review process for site selection, 
land acquisition, construction, and leaching would require 
approximately nine years.

3. How Should Reserve Oil be Distributed?

    The Department maintains the Reserve in a state of readiness that 
allows for delivering oil within 15 days of notice to the field office 
to proceed. The primary means of distributing oil is by competitive 
sale, i.e., oil is sold to the highest responsible bidders. The bids 
are made in response to an offer of specific types and volumes of oil 
available at each Reserve location. The basic terms and conditions of a 
competitive sale are available in a document titled, ``Standard Sales 
Provisions.'' The bidders must accept all terms and conditions of the 
offer, and bid only on price, volume, location, delivery mode, and 
delivery date. The current Reserve Drawdown and Distribution Plan 
provides the Secretary of Energy with the option to direct sales of up 
to 10 percent of the oil to be sold by means other than competitive 
bid, although the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Office has no plans to 
implement the allocation authority.

4. What Should be the Drawdown and Distribution Capability for the 
Reserve?

    In the initial 1976 Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan for a 500 
million barrel Reserve, drawdown and distribution capability was 
designed to equal 60 percent of daily imports, implying a drawdown rate 
of 3.3 million barrels per day and complete drawdown of the Reserve in 
150 days. When the planned size of the Reserve increased to 750 million 
barrels, the initial drawdown and distribution rate was increased to 
4.5 million barrels per day, which in 1990 was equal to 63 percent of 
imports. If the Reserve were expanded to one billion barrels with a 
drawdown and distribution capability of 6.0 million barrels per day, 
that capability would be the equivalent of 60 percent of projected 
imports in the year 2000. Due to decommissioning the Weeks Island site, 
drawdown and distribution capability will be reduced to 3.9 million 
barrels per day, although the rate eventually will be restored to 4.5 
million as part of the Reserve's Life Extension Program. The drawdown 
and distribution rate of 4.5 million barrels per day will decline as a 
percentage of net imports as imports rise. In the years 2000, 2005, and 
2010, the percentage will be 45%, 39%, and 38% respectively, based upon 
projections by the Energy Information Administration.

5. What Is an Appropriate Policy for Revenue Raising Sales From the 
Reserve?

    Under the Act, the oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may only 
be drawn down in the event of a Presidential finding of a shortage, 
interruption, or international obligation, with the exception of 
limited test sales. Aside from test sales (after which the Reserve is 
required by the Act to replace the oil sold), the Department has 
advocated a non-emergency sale only once, in FY 1996, to fund the cost 
of decommissioning the Weeks Island site. However, beginning in 1992, 
Congress has applied outlay caps to the funds available for oil 
acquisition, thereby severely limiting oil purchases and making those 
funds subject to transfer for other purposes. In addition, the 
Administration agreed with Congress on a deficit reduction sale of $227 
million worth of oil in FY 1996, and an additional sale of $220 million 
worth of oil in FY 1997. These proposals, which lower the level of oil 
inventory in the Reserve, are in conflict with the provisions of the 
Act, discussed above, which require plans for oil fill and facility 
expansion. The Department of Energy has also advised against any 
further sales of oil for revenue generation purposes.

6. Should the Reserve's Facilities Be Available for Alternative Uses?

    Initially the Reserve facilities are exclusively dedicated to the 
storage and distribution of Government-owned oil. However, the surface 
pipelines and docking facilities which were built by the Government in 
conjunction with the storage sites could be used by the private sector. 
The Act provides authority for the Department to ``use, lease, 
maintain, sell or otherwise dispose of storage and related 
facilities.'' Beginning in 1994, the Department proposed a 
``commercialization'' program to lease or sell its underutilized or 
idle distribution pipelines and marine terminaling facilities for 
commercial crude oil operations, while retaining priority use of these 
facilities to distribute Reserve crude oil in the event of a national 
emergency. In October 1996, the Reserve leased the St. James terminal 
and the Bayou Choctaw pipeline, and sold the Weeks Island pipeline. The 
Department expects the commercialization program to reduce the 
maintenance costs of the Reserve by transferring those costs to the 
lessees, generate revenue from unutilized facilities, and assist 
industry.
    The Department's current policy regarding commercialization is to 
lease or sell the off-site facilities provided that their capabilities 
are maintained and available to the Reserve in the event of a drawdown. 
The Department would also be willing to lease certain on-site 
facilities that may, in the future, be attractive as lease candidates.
    The Reserve also has almost 100 million barrels of underutilized 
storage capacity. Other member countries of the International Energy 
Agency and non-member countries need capacity to store their oil, and 
the United States could lease the underutilized space to those 
countries. In 1995, the Administration proposed a lease program to the 
other member countries of the International Energy Agency. The 
Administration's policy is to explore the possibility of leasing 
storage capacity to foreign countries in order to generate revenues, 
preserve Reserve capacity for future use, and to promote stockpiling by 
other nations.

7. Should the Reserve Attempt To Raise Funds Through Alternative 
Financing, Innovative Financial Instruments, or Buying and Selling 
Inventory?

    Part C of the Act authorizes the acquisition of oil for the Reserve 
that would remain the property of another person provided the 
Government controls the drawdown of the oil. This authority was added 
to the Act in 1990, in hopes of reducing carrying costs of the oil in 
inventory. Since passage of the legislation the Department has not had 
any success at ``leasing'' or otherwise acquiring alternatively 
financed oil, and in recent years has abandoned the initiative due the 
overall budget

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situation. Nevertheless, the Department is willing to store non-
Government oil for long-term storage in the Reserve if oil acquisition 
is resumed. The Department solicits views on the use of alternative 
financing for oil acquisition.
    The Department also solicits views on the use of financial options, 
futures and other financial instruments. The Department would have to 
become active in the oil markets if it wished to sell options for the 
purchase and sale of Reserve oil. The intent of this activity would be 
to generate funds for the Government and provide an automatic mechanism 
for the release of oil. Additionally, the oil industry could be 
provided a hedging instrument backed by oil. The Administration has not 
taken a position on whether Reserve oil should be offered for trade on 
public markets.
    In addition, the Department seeks views on whether it should sell 
and repurchase Reserve inventories on a continuous basis to take 
financial advantage of market anomalies, such as high current prices 
and low future prices.
    The operating, maintenance and management expenses of the Reserve 
are approximately $200 million per year currently, and are expected to 
decline to approximately $150 million per year over time. The 
Department seeks views on other alternatives for funding these expenses 
other than appropriations from general revenues.

    Issued in Washington, D.C. on April 24, 1997.
Robert S. Kripowicz,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fossil Energy.
[FR Doc. 97-11146 Filed 4-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P