Unfortunately, it is on super tankers owned by banks and speculators.
Earlier this summer, as oil supplies from war-torn Libya dried up, the United States, UK, and other governments across the world released 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves. These were intended to ease the pressure on oil prices and the wallets of families and small businesses, already suffering from price and tax increases.
Source
Isn't that nice? What could possibly go wrong with that?
It now appears, according to an obscure "bid list" that has emerged recently from the U.S. Department of Energy, that banks like JPMorgan bid over 150 million dollars to secure parts of the strategic oil stocks. Instead of selling these on to motorists, they appear to have hoarded the cut-price oil on offshore tankers, waiting for prices to rise.
Bid List
Earlier, similar stories appeared that reported our good buddies down at the corner Koch Industries store hid millions of barrels of oil in tankers; waiting till that exact moment when American families and businesses were desperate enough to pay the ransom.
The practice is known a "contango", and it seems to be a part of Koch's business plan. According to Lee Fang at ThinkProgress,
In 2008, Koch called attention to itself for “contango” oil market manipulation. A commodity market is said to be in contango when future prices are expected to rise, that is, when demand is expected to outstrip supply. Big banks and companies like Koch employ a contango strategy by buying up oil and storing it in massive containers both on land and offshore to lock in the oil for sale later at a set price. In December of 2008, Koch leased “four supertankers to hold oil in the U.S. Gulf Coast to take advantage of rising prices in the months ahead.”
You may recall that Koch was also indicted for stealing oil from wells on Indian lands in 1999. They settled the suit claiming, ""We reached the conclusion that a settlement now, putting an end to this whole matter, is in the best interests of Koch Industries, our employees, customers and the communities we serve."
Yeah buddy, we know how concerned you are about the communities you serve. Like the community of Lively, Texas, where an old over-pressurized Koch pipeline leaked causing an explosion that burned two teenagers to death.
Any way, just thought you might like to know that scum suckers like JP Morgan and Koch Industries are looking out for our best interests. We can certainly feel secure knowing that when we need energy the most, they will be there for us- waiting with millions of barrels of suddenly very expensive oil.