An embargo cannot be effectively directed against the United States unless a naval blockade physically interdicts oil shipments to the East Coast, the Gulf, and the West Coast, including shipments from Alaska. The real security threat is not a naval blockade, but sabotage and terrorist attacks against our oil refining and distribution system within the United States. The SPR cannot protect against these. Not quite true. As might have been anticipated, national SPRs reduce the incentives for private stockpiles.
Refiners can now rely on government to carry the cost of stockpiles.
If, in the future, stockpiles are set up for oil products, we can confidently expect that the level of private storage will drop. Taxpayers would then pay the cost, instead of oil companies. Oil released from our SPR subsidizes foreign consumers by reducing a supply shortfall and thereby moderating a global price increase. As physical barrels of oil move from the SPR into U.S. refineries, they reduce the demand for imports and make more oil available to the rest of the world at a lower price. Thus, a cutoff of oil from the Persian Gulf would hurt all consumers, including Europeans and Japanese.