Dan Scott said:
The SPR refill I don't think is a big deal. We're exporting about 3MBD or 25% of domestic production right now. In the event of a situation that really made it needed, we stop exporting.
The USA refineries aren't configured to refine most of the crude which is produced domestically. If the USA held back exports in an emergency, it would likely make the situation worse.
I'm on the upstream side, so don't understand the complexity and cost to re-tool refineries, but…
It would be nice, if the "infrastructure bill" had a line item to modify or build new refineries, so the USA could refine its domestic crude. In which case, the SPR as you said would loose a lot of its strategic value.