Crude Stockpiles

We all complain about prices at the gas pump (okay, not the OPEC people), but without the stockpile of petroleum that the government keeps, prices could be a lot higher. With millions of barrels of crude oil, the government hopes to keep prices somewhat stable when all the oil-producing countries decide to put on the screws and decrease production to drive up prices.

Higher levels of crude oil stockpiles can lead to lower prices at the gas pump and for heating oil.

There's also a U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve deep in the bowels of Louisiana and Texas, for emergency use. In case there's another national energy crisis.