U.S. Expands Oil Reserve

Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman has announced that Richton, Miss., is the site for the planned expansion of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. "The SPR is a national asset intended to protect the U.S. against severe supply disruptions that could harm our economy and threaten our national security," Bodman said when signing the record of decision. The inland Richton site will be the fifth repository in the SPR and the first not located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The site is planned to hold about 275 million barrels of petroleum and should be completed by 2027. The SPR, which was set up after the 1973 oil embargo, presently holds 690 million bbl of crude oil, about a 60-day U.S. supply.