LegiStorm Pro

In response to a congressional request, GAO presented its semiannual review of the Department of Energy's (DOE) progress in developing, operating, and filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

GAO found that: (1) as of March 31, 1988, the SPR inventory totalled 544.9 million barrels of oil; (2) during the previous 6 months, DOE added 11 million barrels of crude oil at an average fill rate of 60,000 barrels per day; (3) DOE disbursed $208 million from the SPR account to pay for oil it purchased from the Mexican national oil company; (4) the fiscal year (FY) 1988 appropriation of $164 million for SPR facilities development and management and $439 million for oil purchases was adequate to fill SPR at an average daily rate of 50,000 barrels; (5) DOE plans to obligate $173 million for facilities development and $236 million for oil purchases for FY 1989; (6) testing revealed over 550 possible software deficiences at one SPR site; (7) DOE postponed drawdown exercises involving crude oil movements until completion of an evaluation of their effects on cavern integrity; and (8) DOE and the Military Sealift Command made progress in resolving issues concerning payments of $500,000 to shippers for demurrage charges.