Energy circles are abuzz with talk that U.S. President Donald Trump might tap the nation’s emergency oil stockpile to stabilize pump prices. The tool at his disposal is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, set up in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s as a backup in case of subsequent supply shocks. It’s the world’s largest supply of emergency crude, stored in deep and heavily guarded underground salt caverns along the U.S. Gulf Coast. At present, the reserve totals 660 million barrels.
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