America's emergency oil stockpile is being drawn down so fast that it is approaching a point where the underground caverns holding the crude could sustain physical damage. That stockpile is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the federal government's buffer against supply disruptions, and experts warn the rapid pace of withdrawal now puts the storage infrastructure itself at risk.
What the reserve is, and why the cavern warning matters
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created to give the United States a supply of crude oil it can release during shortages or supply shocks. The oil is held underground in a series of caverns. When oil is needed, the government draws it out of those caverns and releases it to the market.
The most immediate question around any drawdown is the supply side: how much oil remains. What experts are now raising is a different and more lasting concern. The caverns that hold the oil, and the operations that move oil in and out of them, can face damage if the drawdown reaches the level the reserve is now approaching.
If a cavern reaches the point of damage, it is not simply empty. An empty cavern can be refilled. A damaged one may not function as designed, and that would affect the government's ability to use the reserve when it is actually needed.
The reserve is nearing that threshold. What the country can draw on in a future supply disruption depends, in part, on whether the storage caverns remain intact.