The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Reserve) met its energy security mission during the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Despite being in the path of the hurricanes' destruction, the
Reserve fulfilled immediate requests for emergency oil from
refineries suffering from storm-induced supply shortages. Within
four days of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, oil was on its way to
requesting refineries. The Reserve's total response was almost 21
million barrels of crude oil being made available to refiners
through loans and sales.
