(03-20-2020, 05:13 PM)Predator Wrote:

(03-20-2020, 05:52 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: I'm just wondering if we actually need a strategic petroleum reserve now, since we produce enough domestically to satisfy all our demand.   It seems like a relic of the 1970s Arab oil embargo.  

It seems like anyone banging the drum for smaller government would be asking, why does the government need to be in the oil business?

Much of the US oil production is based on shale oil which is more expensive to produce than drawing oil from a well. There are multiple American energy companies that produce shale oil that are on the verge of bankruptcy due to the drastic price cuts by foreign oil producers.

This is a way to ensure that American companies get the benefit of the government's spending and to protect the American market if these companies do go under by going ahead and filling our oil reserves.

Exactly.  With the price of oil below say $35 or $40 per barrel it isn't profitable for many of the shale companies to operate.  It's a double edged sword.  On one hand the price that average consumers pay at the pump is down which is good, yet on the other hand oil producers going under means a loss of thousands of jobs.

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