Here’s a wild surprise: the UK actually has a strategic oil reserve. It’s a secret stash of crude oil held in underground salt caverns along the coast. It’s like a giant, greasy piggy bank that politicians can crack open when things go pear-shaped. The UK is part of an international agreement to hold enough oil for 90 days of net imports.
But here’s the punchline: that reserve is for crude oil, not the refined petrol your car needs. It’s like having a pantry full of raw chicken when you’re starving—good luck eating it without a stove. The refineries have to process it, and they’re often the bottleneck in a crisis.
So yes, we have a national "fuel blanket," but it’s not a magic solution. If a crisis hits, we won’t have a coupon system; we’ll have a bidding war for which refinery gets the crude first. Office politics with 35-million-litre consequences.
