The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: U.S. Energy Security and Oil Politics, 1975-2005 (Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History) (Volume 21) - Hardcover

Beaubouef, Bruce A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585446009 ISBN 13: 9781585446001

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press, 2007

Synopsis

In 1973, the United States and other western countries were shocked by the Arab oil embargo. Lines formed at gasoline pumps; fuel stations ran out of supply; prices skyrocketed; and the nation realized its vulnerability to decisions made by leaders of countries half a world away.

In response, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which was signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975, has become the nation’s primary tool of energy policy. Following its first major use during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, officials and policy makers at the highest levels increasingly turned to the SPR to stave off shortages and mitigate rising energy prices.

Author and historian Bruce A. Beaubouef examines, for the first time, the interactions that have shaped the development of the SPR. He argues that the SPR has survived because it is a passive regulatory tool that serves to protect energy consumers and petroleum consumption and does not compete with the American oil industry. Indeed, by the late twentieth century, as American import dependency reached new heights, refiners and transporters increasingly relied upon the SPR as a ready resource to help maintain feedstock when supplies were tight or disrupted.

In a time of continued vulnerability, this definitive work will be of interest to those concerned with the history, economy, and politics of the oil and gas industry, as well as to historians and practitioners of oil and energy policy.

About this title

About the Author:

BRUCE A. BEAUBOUEF is the managing editor of Hart Publications in Houston. Holder of a Ph.D. in history from the University of Houston, he has worked since 1995 as an editor for oil and gas magazines and journals.

Review:

“This careful study of the SPR’s origins and development can illuminate many key issues in past and current US oil policy...Beaubouef’s analysis is astute, and his conclusions are firmly based on the truly impressive amount of the evidence he presents.”--David Painter, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University (David Painter, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University)

". . . this volume is an excellent study of a lesser known, yet significant, historical artifact." -Technology and Culture (Technology and Culture 2008-10-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1585446009
• ISBN 13: 9781585446001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 350