The U.S. office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response noted in a recent release that the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves announced a solicitation for approximately three million barrels of oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in September.
“This is a continuation of DOE’s strategy of consistent solicitations aimed at purchasing oil when it can purchase at a good deal for taxpayers: a price of $79 dollars per barrel or below, far less than the average of about $95 per barrel DOE received for 2022 emergency SPR sales,” the release stated.
“DOE has already purchased a total of 26.28 million barrels of oil for the SPR for an average price of $76.47, as well as accelerated nearly four million barrels of exchange returns, pursuant to its strategy to refill the SPR,” it added.
The release stated that the DOE will continue to evaluate options to refill the SPR while securing a good deal for taxpayers, “taking into account planned exchange returns and market developments”.
The release also noted that the announcement advances U.S. President Joe Biden’s “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,” it added.
“Analysis from the Department of the Treasury indicates that SPR releases in 2022, along with coordinated releases from international partners, reduced gasoline prices by as much as 40 cents per gallon,” it continued.
The release stated that the SPR continues to be the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil and said it has a long history of protecting the economy and American livelihoods in times of emergency oil shortages.
Weekly U.S. ending stocks of crude oil in the SPR came in at 360.96 million barrels on March 1, according to data on the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) website, which was last updated on March 6.
The highest figure in the EIA data, which showed weekly numbers from August 1982 to March 2024, came on January 1, 2010, at 726.617 million barrels. The lowest figure in the data came on August 20, 1982, at 270.455 million barrels. According to the EIA figures, weekly U.S. ending stocks of crude oil in the SPR dropped from near 640 million barrels in January 2021 to under 350 million barrels in June 2023, before rising back up to over 360 million barrels last month.
In its latest short term energy outlook, which was released this week, the EIA projected that crude oil inventories in the SPR would come in at 382.2 million barrels at the end of both 2024 and 2025.
On February 28, the U.S. office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response noted in a release that the DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves announced that contracts had been awarded for the acquisition of 3.2 million barrels of U.S.-produced crude oil for the SPR.
The contracts awarded are fully subscribed for a July delivery following a request for proposal that was announced on February 8, the release highlighted, adding that the 3.2 million barrels are being purchased for an average price of $77.39 per barrel.
“A total of seven companies responded to the RFP, submitting 27 proposals, and the contracts were awarded to three companies that met quality and spec requirements, in addition to providing competitive bids,” the release stated.
“The crude oil will be delivered to the Big Hill SPR storage site from July 1, 2024, to July 31, 2024,” it added.
On February 26, the office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response said in a release that the DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves announced a solicitation for approximately three million barrels of oil for delivery to the SPR in August 2024.
On February 15, the office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response said the DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves announced that contracts had been awarded for the acquisition of 2.95 million barrels of U.S.-produced crude oil for the SPR.
The contracts awarded are fully subscribed for a June delivery following a request for proposal that was announced on January 31, the release pointed out, adding that the 2.95 million barrels are being purchased for an average price of $77.81 per barrel.
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