Strategic Oil Reserve Is for Emergencies, Not Elections

There are few things a U.S. president hates more than gasoline at $4 a gallon, especially with an election little more than two months away.

This might explain why President Barack Obama’s administration is toying with the idea of releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an underground reservoir that can store 727 million barrels of crude oil in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. Gasoline prices have risen to about $3.75, up 40 cents in the past two months, near the electoral trouble zone.