Publications: Papers

SPR Provides Antidote to Financial Contagion (Energy Intel, April 14, 2022)

The coordinated releases of strategic reserves by several International Energy Agency member countries have been widely panned as political gestures aimed at mollifying consumers. The critics are mistaken. The public justifications given for the releases were meant to disguise the real reason: preventing financial contagion. Financial markets were hurtling toward what could have been a 2008-type financial collapse before the US announced on Mar. 31 that it would release 180 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) between April and October. The news of these oil sales eliminated the financial strain. The Opec delegates, reporters and analysts who follow energy markets fell for the ruse. One potential consequence of the need to draw down finite strategic reserves to ensure financial stability is that it will force major industrialized countries to end their reliance on oil more quickly — an outcome some will applaud and others lament. Read more here.