What is normally called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is a United States storage facility for oil commissioned to provide a moderating supply of oil in the event of a sudden embargo. The "strategic" nature of the reserve arises from the fact that it makes an embargo much less of a shock and thus less effective. There is no one who contends that the reserves can actually replace any sustained major shortfall in oil supplies.
Unfortunately, this "conservative" definition and use does not address more covert and politically contrived price escalations by those who own the oil we Americans seem to need to support our economy. Nor does this defined use address the flow of bubble money from the Housing boom into futures by the same sort of hedge funds that drove the Housing bubble.
Both Nancy Pelosi and Brack Obama have suggested using the reserve as a "tactical" weapon against the hedge funds and the OPEC suppliers. Such a use can also be strategic in nature in that it tells the manipulators that we will simply take advantage of their manipulations. As for myself, I said last month, "If those Chinese morons want to pay $140 a barrel for oil we should be selling it to em".
The well established notion of "buy low and sell high" also works the other way around. It is quite obvious that when one has the goods one can sell high and then buy at lower prices in the future. And it should be equally obvious that when one has the container in which to store oil then one can take advantage of lower prices to "stock up" on a commodity that will not rot or wear out. And it should be obvious to all that actually look at the current Republican fiasco that we are hurting ourselves by allowing the container to get so full that we can no longer take advantage of lower prices when they occur.
This mismanagement of the SPR is so very Republican as to wet the eyes. Stupidity on steroids and an absolute contempt for rational government is illustrated in spades. Why Pelosi and Obama would let this rest is beyond any accounting. The use of the strategic reserves to protect the economy of the United States is not only rational, but absolutely essential to the well being of America. The continued purchase of oil at prices above $80 a barrel and the filling of the reserve to an extent that we can't buy at lower prices is also just plain stupid if not outright larcenous.
The actual "Strategic Petroleum Reserve" is all of the oil within the sovereignty of the United States. And most especially it is the oil in the commons such as offshore oil and and ANWR oil. These supplies have been kept off the market and out of the hands of America's competitors and enemies in spite of the Republicans. And now that oil actually is becoming more scarce, the wisdom of such withholding is becoming more obvious. The Republicans want to simply _**GIVE**_ our strategic resources to their benefactors (the multinational oil companies) in trade for the flow of campaign contributions and swift boat operations now and in the future. It is treasonous fascism at its lowest.