Anoint my caverns with oil

SIXTY CAVERNS extend deep into the subterranean salt that composes the substrate along much of America’s Gulf Coast, at four sites, two each in Texas and Louisiana. They are huge; the typical cavern can hold two Empire State Buildings stacked atop each other. These caverns hold America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the world’s largest stockpile of crude oil. All told they can hold 714m barrels, but today, after the largest-ever drawdown last year to stabilise oil markets in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they hold just half that capacity—the SPR’s lowest level in 40 years. On May 15th the Biden administration announced a 3m-barrel purchase for August delivery. But that is just the first step in a long, fraught process.