Emergency oil reserves

An oil reserve starts with a quantity. Its usefulness depends on a journey. Between a political decision and fuel available to a consumer, rights must be exercised, contracts agreed, facilities mobilised and prices formed. This investigation follows those stages while preserving the dates and limits of the public documents used to describe them.

Chapter one opens the tanks. Crude oil and refined products wait at different points in the industrial chain. A crude cargo still needs processing; finished fuel can enter the network further downstream. The product stored, its quality and the available equipment determine which operations remain. Refinery yields and product inventories retain their respective units throughout.

An original introduction connects the six investigations.

The journey starts in a tank and ends with a user. At each stage, a different question matters. Is the product available in the required form? Who has the right to mobilise it? Which facility can load or process it? On what terms will it be delivered? Which price movement is observable, in which market and over which period? The six chapters provide identified documents with which to ask those questions.

A reserve retains its insurance value, but its composition matters alongside its total. Crude and finished diesel require different equipment. Ownership, finance and release authority are distinct from operating a tank. A contract may provide access to the product without settling how long its journey will take. Following these functions helps locate a constraint precisely.

The full conclusion sets out what to follow after a stock release decision.