# § 6234. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
**(a)** **Establishment** A Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products shall be created pursuant to this part.
**(b)** **Authority of Secretary** The Secretary, in accordance with this part, shall exercise authority over the development, operation, and maintenance of the Reserve.
**(c)** **to (e) Repealed. Pub. L. 106–469, title I, § 103(7)(C), Nov. 9, 2000, 114 Stat. 2030**
**(f)** **Purpose of drawdown and distribution; requests for funds for storage**
**(1)** The drawdown and distribution of petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is authorized only under section 6241 of this title, and drawdown and distribution of petroleum products for purposes other than those described in section 6241 of this title shall be prohibited.
**(2)** In the Secretary’s annual budget submission, the Secretary shall request funds for acquisition, transportation, and injection of petroleum products for storage in the Reserve. If no requests for funds are made, the Secretary shall provide a written explanation of the reason therefore.
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**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 94–163, title I, § 154, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 882; Pub. L. 95–619, title VI, § 691(b)(2), Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3288; Pub. L. 102–486, title XIV, § 1402, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 2994; Pub. L. 105–177, § 1(6), June 1, 1998, 112 Stat. 106; Pub. L. 106–469, title I, § 103(7), Nov. 9, 2000, 114 Stat. 2030.)
## Editorial Notes
### Amendments
2000—Subsec. (a). , amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) provided for the creation of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products and required that the Reserve contain not less than 150 million barrels of petroleum products by the end of the 3-year period beginning on , and that the President take actions to enlarge the Reserve to 1,000,000,000 barrels as rapidly as possible beginning .
Subsec. (b). , amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: “The Secretary, not later than , shall prepare and transmit to the Congress, in accordance with , a Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan. Such Plan shall comply with the provisions of this section and shall detail the Secretary’s proposals for designing, constructing, and filling the storage and related facilities of the Reserve.”
Subsecs. (c) to (e). , struck out subsecs. (c) to (e) which related to the levels of crude oil to be stored, plan objectives, and plan provisions.
1998—Subsec. (f). added subsec. (f).
1992—Subsec. (a). designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2).
1978—Subsecs. (b), (d). substituted “Secretary” and “Secretary’s” for “Administrator” and “Administrator’s”, respectively, meaning Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, wherever appearing.
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown Plan
, , , required the President to transmit to Congress, on or before , and as an amendment to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, a drawdown plan for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve consistent with the requirements of this section, to take effect on the date of transmittal and not be subject to relating to Congressional review.