The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has dropped to its lowest level since 1982, Department of Energy data this week showed, revealing the continued drawdown of emergency oil as the nation weathers a global energy shortage.
The reserve shrank by more than 3 million barrels of oil over the week ending on Aug. 28, the DOE said, leaving the stockpile at 286.6 million barrels or about 40% of overall capacity.
The largest global oil supply disruption on record has catapulted U.S. gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, rekindled inflation and helped set the stage for November's midterm elections.
They have to pump water in to the old salt mines in order to float the oil to the pumps. The problem is the water does what it did when they mined . It eats away at the salt. The system was never designed for a complete draw down and running it this low will have consequences. I don't think they can get the last 20 percent at all because of sludge and corruption and such. And what if the water eats into a huge void in the earth? Oil goes away permanently.