The Office of Petroleum Reserves at the US Department of Energy (DoE) has announced that it is looking for bids to supply some 3 million barrels of crude oil to start replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Around 300 billion barrels was released from the SPR in an effort to stabilise oil prices, with it receiving an average of $95 per barrel for emergency sales in 2022. The DoE’s strategy is to buy back oil to refill the SPR at $79 or less per barrel, so that it maximises value for the US taxpayers.
US producers like ExxonMobil, the maker of the Mobil DTE hydraulic oil, will be able to solicit their offers by January 10 for delivery in April, with further solicitations to be announced on a monthly basis through to May.
In a press release, the DoE said that the announcement furthers the:
“…commitment to safeguard and replenish this critical energy security asset. This follows his historic release from the SPR to address the significant global supply disruption caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine and help keep the domestic market well supplied, ultimately helping to bring down prices for American consumers and businesses.”
The release added that Department of the Treasury analysis had found that coordinated releases of reserves among the international community, including those from the SPR, helped lower the per-gallon gasoline prices in the United States by 40 cents. The press release also said that the SPR is still the world’s largest emergency stockpile of crude oil.
