Strategic oil reserve

A strategic oil reserve is a strategic supply of crude oil , gasoline , heating oil and crude oil intermediates. The reserve serves to bridge a potential short-term oil supply bottleneck in a country. In many countries, oil stocks are regulated by law because of their economic importance.

background

Since the discovery of large oil reserves in the southern United States, coal has been superseded as the primary fuel . Hardly any of the elementary areas of life in industrialized nations, especially agriculture and transport , can do without petroleum products today. As a large part of the deposits are concentrated in the troubled region of the Middle East , the oil has to be transported over long distances with oil tankers and pipelines to the consumers. In 1973 the oil price rose rapidly due to a politically motivated reduction in oil production by OPEC . Because there were no strategic oil reserves until then, this could not be counteracted. As a result, the International Energy Agency IEA was founded by 16 industrial nations to coordinate energy policy and ensure a reliable energy supply.

Most recently, the IEA released oil reserves because of the Libyan War and the country's lack of oil production.

Reserves of selected countries

Germany

In 2011 the stocks in Germany amounted to 25 million tons. 13.4 million t are attributable to crude oil and 11.8 million t to petroleum products (data for 2005). This volume is intended to cover German oil demand for at least 90 days in an emergency. The storage facilities for crude oil are mainly located at a depth of 1,000 to 1,500 m in cavern storage facilities in Lower Saxony. These were created in geological salt formations especially for this purpose. A large part of the oil reserves is located in the Etzel cavern system from IVG . The reserves of petroleum intermediates are kept above ground in tank containers distributed across Germany. At an oil price of 70 US dollars per barrel, the value of the reserves is around eleven billion euros.

Independent of the strategic reserve, there used to be a so-called federal crude oil reserve of 7.32 million t, which was built up from 1974 to 1981 and stored in artificially created storage caverns near Wilhelmshaven , Bremen , Hamburg and other places. In 1997, the then federal government ordered the sale of this reserve. Today, various mineral oil products such as gasoline , diesel fuel , heating oil , kerosene and heavy oil are stored at various locations in the Federal Republic of Germany , which, because they are already refined , can be used at short notice.

Although the stockpiling obligation of the petroleum storage association is 90 days, the total stock of crude oil and oil products in Germany is much higher. Large amounts are stored voluntarily by consumers, particularly in the heating oil sector. Refineries also have operational stocks to ensure their production operations.

The legal basis for petroleum storage and the Petroleum Storage Association (EBV) is the "Law on the storage of petroleum and petroleum products (Petroleum Storage Act - ErdölBevG)" of January 16, 2012 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 74 ). The oil reserve is organized and monitored by the EBV. All German companies that import or process oil are compulsory members of the EBV, especially the large mineral oil groups . The EBV is a corporation under public law that was founded in 1978 by the mineral oil companies operating in Germany together with medium-sized mineral oil importers and with the participation of the federal government, after the federal government had already obliged the companies to create a strategic emergency oil reserve at their own expense in 1966 , with which the oil supply of the Federal Republic of Germany can be temporarily secured in times of war and crisis. The EBV has its administrative headquarters in Hamburg. The costs that arise from stockpiling are allocated to the price of gasoline, diesel and heating oil at around 0.5 cents per liter. The EBV may only sell the reserves on the instructions of the Federal Minister of Economics and only at the current market price. The IEA and the EU have a say. In 1991, part of Germany's oil reserves were sold during the Gulf War when the barrel cost $ 30.55.

After the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent sharp rise in oil prices, around 450,000 m³ were released in 2005. Due to the failure of Libya as an oil exporting nation in 2011, the federal government also released reserves. Germany participated in the release of oil reserves by the International Energy Agency with approx. 4.3 million barrels.

In October 2018, when the Rhine water level fell sharply as a result of the drought and heat in Europe in 2018 and ships could no longer be fully loaded, the federal government released limited amounts of the reserve.

Austria

Austria's oil reserve for 2011 amounted to 2.918 million t of oil and oil products, which should cover the country's supply for 90 days. The stock amount is adjusted annually to the average 90-day consumption of the previous year. The oil storage company is responsible . The legal basis is the "Federal Act on the Keeping of Minimum Stocks of Petroleum and Petroleum Products" (Petroleum Storage Act 2012 - EBG 2012). Before that, the "Federal Act of October 21, 1982, Federal Law Gazette No. 546, on the keeping of emergency reserves of crude oil and petroleum products and on reporting obligations to secure the energy supply (Petroleum Storage and Reporting Act 1982)" was in effect.

Switzerland

The Switzerland stored oil in the form of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and heating oil. These reserves cover the requirements for four and a half months. The stock was created in the 1940s and has been touched for the first time since 2005 due to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina .

Japan

Japan began building its strategic oil reserve in 1978. This consists of a state reserve with a target of 47.13 billion liters under the supervision of the independent administrative body ( 独立 行政 法人 , dokuritsu gyōsei hōjin ) Sekiyu Tennen Gasu, Kinzoku Kōbutsu Shigen Kikō ( 石油 天然 ガ ス ・ 金属 鉱 物 資源 機構 , English. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation , JOGMEC for short ). In addition, there is an obligation of the private oil industry to keep stocks, which corresponds to around 29.1 billion liters, as well as further oil stores with 1.58 billion liters, which are held jointly with oil-producing nations. With this total reserve of almost 80 billion liters, Japan could do without oil imports for 208 days (as of 2017). The state reserve is stored in ten state oil reservoirs ( 国家 石油 備 蓄 基地 , kokka sekiyu bichiku kichi ), which hold 40 billion liters, as well as partly in private-sector stores. The state oil reservoirs are organized as joint stock companies ( kabushiki-gaisha ), in which both the private oil companies concerned and the state in the form of the JOGMEC or the prefectures are involved . The oil is mainly stored in above-ground tanks, partly also in tanks sunk into the ground, which ensure greater earthquake resistance (e.g. in Akita), in caverns (e.g. Kushikino) and, for reasons of space, also on the sea in Close to the coast in floating double-walled containers, protected by oil barriers and breakwaters (e.g. Shirashima).

Tomakomai-tōbu Mutsu-Ogawara Akita Kuji Fukui Kikuma Shirashima Kamigotō Kushikino Shibushi

Japan's oil reserves

Name (~ 国家 石油 備 蓄 基地 )	place	Capacity [million l]
Akita ( 秋田 )	Oga	4,500
Fukui ( 福井 )	Fukui , Sakai	3,400
Kamigotō ( 上 五 島 )	Shinkamigotō	4,400
Kuji ( 久 慈 )	Kuji	1,750
Kikuma ( 菊 間 )	Imabari	1,500
Kushikino ( 串 木 野 )	Ichiki Kushikino	1,750
Mutsu-Ogawara ( む つ 小川 原 )	Rokkasho	5,700
Shirashima ( 白 島 )	Kitakyushu	5,600
Shibushi ( 志 布 志 )	Higashikushira , Kimotsuki	5,000
Tomakomai-tōbu ( 苫 小 牧 東部 )	Tomakomai , Atsuma	6,400

Japan also has strategic reserves of natural gas and rare metals, which are also being created by JOGMEC and on the basis of private sector obligations.

United States

The United States' strategic oil reserve ( Strategic Petroleum Reserve ) is around 100 million tons and is tapped in crisis situations. The depots were created on the basis of the experience of the worldwide oil crisis in 1973 . The oil is stored in underground salt domes at a depth of more than 1,000 meters , which have been flushed out with water for this purpose. The four deposits are located on the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Louisiana . The individual oil-filled caverns are 600 m deep and 60 m in diameter and hold 0.7 to 4 million tons.

Since the deposit is heated from below by geothermal energy, the liquid circulates ( convection ). In this way, the composition of the oil remains constant because no components can sediment . This means that the oil can be stored for decades without any loss of quality.

The US can meet all of its oil needs for 35 days with the strategic oil reserve. The country needs around 3 million tons of oil every day. With rationing measures it would last up to 60 days. However, the US is the world's third largest producer of oil. For this reason, the reserve would last longer if domestic oil production was included.

After the terrorist attacks in 2001 , US President George W. Bush had the oil reserves replenished to full storage capacity.

The oil reserve was used in August 2005 after Hurricane Katrina brought oil production in the Gulf of Mexico to a standstill and as a result the price of oil rose to over US $ 70 a barrel.

See also

• Civil emergency reserve
• Federal grain reserve

Web links

Wiktionary: Oil reserve  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Text of the German Petroleum Storage Act
• Text of the Austrian Petroleum Storage and Reporting Act
• Petroleum Storage Association
• Strategic oil reserves of the Federal Republic of Germany in Verivox
• US Department of Energy: US Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Influencing factor "strategic oil reserve"
• Oil treasure from Wilhelmshaven
• Strategic oil reserve - China is preparing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Renewable energies and climate protection. Background - Techniques - System planning - Economic efficiency by Volker Quaschning, Hanser Fachbuch, 2013, p. 40
2. ^ "OPEC - Dispute over strategic oil reserves" Handelsblatt June 27, 2011.
3. ↑ "IEA makes 60 million barrels of oil available to market to offset Libyan disruption" ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. IAE press release of June 23, 2011 
4. ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from MPs Frank Tempel, Jan Korte, Ulla Jelpke, other MPs and the DIE LINKE parliamentary group: Conclusions for disaster control from the nuclear accident in the Fukushima nuclear power plant. In: Drucksache 17/5653. German Bundestag, April 26, 2011, accessed on February 11, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Law on minimum stocks of petroleum products of September 9, 1965 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1217 )
6. ↑ tagesschau.de: Restricted shipping on the Rhine: Government releases oil reserves. Retrieved October 26, 2018 (German). 
7. ↑ Overview of Petroleum and LPG Stockpiling: Petroleum and Liquefied Petroleum Gas | JOGMEC's ​​Activities. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, accessed November 14, 2010 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Stockpiling: Petroleum and Liquefied Petroleum Gas> Stockpiling system. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, March 2017, accessed January 17, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Stockpiling: Petroleum and Liquefied Petroleum Gas> Stockpiling methods. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, accessed January 17, 2018 . 
10. ↑ 国内 事務所 - 石油 備 蓄 基地 事務所 . (No longer available online.) Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, archived from the original on March 16, 2011 ; Retrieved November 15, 2010 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ http://www.fe.doe.gov US Department of Energy: US Strategic Petroleum Reserve ( Memento of the original of September 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. English, as of May 19, 2009