In dozens of underground salt caverns nestled along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana sit hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil, America's "insurance policy" against the volatile nature of the global oil market.
Called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, it is the world's largest emergency oil supply, and dates back to the 1970s, when it was created to ensure the U.S.'s future energy independence following the Arab oil embargo. At that time, America was dependent on foreign oil, and the embargo led to an energy crisis that rippled across the U.S. economy and culture, leading to winding lines at gas stations, sky-rocketing prices, and calls from then-President Richard Nixon to abstain from driving on Sundays and putting up holiday lights to preserve fuel. The SPR was established to avoid this happening again.
