The US Government could begin refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) early in autumn this year. This is according to the US President’s coordinator for energy security and global infrastructure, Amos Hochstein.
Speaking in Dublin at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Europe event, Hochstein pointed out that this was contingent on a number of factors. First, the administration wants to buy at $70 per barrel, which would give good value for taxpayers and demonstrate sound management of this resource. He said oil from the reserves was sold at over $90 per barrel. There is also a Congress-mandated sale of 26 million barrels to consider, as well as maintenance on the SPR infrastructure while it is half full. Refilling the SPR should help US producers like Chevron, the maker of the Texaco URSA range of commercial vehicle oil, to sell their crude oil.
Hochstein also said more needed to be done on infrastructure, but added that it was tricky because the country is undergoing:
“…an energy transition that we’re trying to accelerate. So what do you build now to sustain you in the short and medium term, and what do you do to make sure that you’re not building something that will be, you know, wasted assets later on down the road?”
He also said the price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian crude oil was being effective in limiting revenues to sustain the war in Ukraine, because even though oil was being sold to eastern countries instead, it was at a substantial discount.
