MANAGING THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE: ENERGY POLICY IN A MARKET SETTING.

Abstract

Ten years ago the US Congress authorized the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with the intent of bolstering energy security. Today the Reserve stands at over 450 million barrels of oil - a large and potentially powerful policy instrument. The questions surrounding the Reserve, however, are many, complex, and largely unresolved. This paper examines these questions, in the process reviewing the analytial approaches to resolving them.