Amid Drawdowns, DOE Plans SPR Expansion to 1 Bln Bbls

While the oil market is gripped by the impact of plans to release emergency crude oil supplies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Department of Energy is in the early stages of a move to boost the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by 38% to 1 billion barrels.

Currently, the SPR holds a record 700.5 million barrels, and has capacity of 727 million barrels. But the recently enacted Energy Policy Act calls for boosting the reserve to 1 billion barrels.
Schlumberger