Cushing Oil Storage Facility Approaching Capacity

The over-saturation of oil in the world market has some fearing that the world’s largest oil storage facility is near capacity.

Some think if Cushing is full, the country’s oil production would be crippled.

Oklahoma City University economist Russell Evans thinks Cushing is currently at 70 to 80 percent capacity.

He thinks Cushing is currently storing 60 million barrels of oil, roughly 12 percent of the nation’s current supply.

Evans feels fears about reaching capacity in Cushing are unfounded.

“There's land there so it’s easy to expand capacity,” Evans said.

Evans, who provides energy forecasts for Oklahoma City, thinks operating near capacity could create challenges when it comes to mixing oil, especially without the demand to send it off to market.

“Right now, we have 500 million barrels. That’s 200 million more barrels than we probably need,” Evans said about the current U.S. stockpile of oil.