Audit of staffing requirements for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Department of Energy`s (Department) Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Reserve) is responsible for storing large quantities of crude oil, currently about 592 million barrels, to reduce the impact of any future supply disruptions. The Reserve facilities consist of a marine terminal and five underground storage sites located in Louisiana and Texas, and program and administrative offices in New Orleans and Washington, DC. At May 31, 1994, 1,692 Departmental and contractor personnel were employed in the operation, maintenance, and administration of Reserve activities and the Fiscal Year 1994 Congressional Appropriation was about $207 million. The audit was requested by the Deputy Secretary of Energy to assist Departmental management in evaluating the human resources required to meet Reserve program requirements. Specifically, the objective of the audit was to determine whether current staffing levels for the Reserve were necessary to effectively and efficiently accomplish current and future anticipated mission requirements. The Secretary`s goal of having the Department and its contractors embrace the best management practices in other Government agencies and industry to improve processes and eliminate waste has not been fully realized by Reserve management. We identified industry performance levels and staffing practices that, if achieved by the Reserve, could enable the Reserve to eliminate approximately 329 positions in eight functional areas with potential annual savings of about $16 million. Our analysis indicated that additional staffing reductions are possible over the long term through further application of industry practices and decreases in the number of managers. However, such staffing reductions will require further analysis by management to determine the specific number of staffing reductions that are attainable. The actual staffing reductions realized by the Reserve will be heavily influenced by several factors.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Inspector General, Washington, DC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 57229
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/IG-0370; ON: TI95011002; TRN: 95:004191
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: DN: Report to The Secretary; PBD: 29 Mar 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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