Kathleen Hogan, an infrastructure official at the Department of Energy, said in a letter received by lawmakers on April 12 that those concerns were unfounded. "The necessary emergency sales that took place in 2022 did not damage our SPR pipelines or caverns," Hogan said in the letter, which had not been reported previously.
"The Nation's top geoscientists at DOE's Sandia National Laboratory continue to closely monitor cavern integrity, and the SPR remains operationally ready to respond to future supply disruptions, should they occur," Hogan said. Granholm told Reuters late last month that two of the SPR's four sites, Bryan Mound and Bayou Choctaw, would be down until the fall due to life extension work. That work and a congressionally mandated sale of 26 million barrels from the SPR have delayed buybacks, she said. The DOE did not immediately respond to request for comment about the letter.
Hogan said in the letter that maintenance was initiated in
2016 and that DOE's request of Congress last year for an
additional $500 million was for increased costs, not due to
damage from the release. The maintenance work "experienced the
same supply chain impacts, labor shortages, and other issues
that many commercial companies have faced in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic," Hogan wrote.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
US could buy back oil for strategic reserve late this year ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Additional reporting by Arathy
Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
