The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that contracts have been awarded for 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) that was noticed for sale in April 2022.
In a DOE release, officials said this second emergency sale was conducted as part of a coordinated action with our international allies and partners to provide a wartime bridge that will support American consumers and the global economy in response to Vladimir Putin’s war of choice against Ukraine.
“The Biden Administration has taken significant steps to address the pain Americans are feeling at the pump as a result of Putin’s Price Hike and to help lower energy costs,” officials said. “That includes President Biden authorizing the release of 1 million barrels per day from the SPR for the next six months. That action was joined by 30 other International Energy Agency Member Countries who agreed to collectively release an additional 60 million barrels.”
Combined with already-scheduled releases, these contracts mean that the SPR is now scheduled to deliver 50 million barrels in May and June. As a next step toward releasing one million barrels per day for the next six months, DOE plans to issue a third Notice of Sale on May 24, 2022 for an additional 40 million barrels and for delivery starting in June, and further details will be posted at that time.
“These releases come as a part of a comprehensive plan to address Putin’s Price Hike at the pump and to establish true energy independence and lower costs for Americans into the future,” reported the release.
On April 1, 2022, DOE issued the second Notice of Sale for a price-competitive sale of 30 million barrels of SPR crude oil. A total of 16 companies responded to this notice, submitting 126 bids for evaluation.
- Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. (2.1 million barrels)
- Chevron USA (1.025 million barrels)
- Equinor Marketing & Trading (0.7 million barrels)
- ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (3.6 million barrels)
- Glencore Ltd. (2.6 million barrels)
- Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC (2.375 million barrels)
- Mercuria (0.5 million barrels)
- Motiva Enterprises LLC (4.05 million barrels)
- Phillips 66 Company (2.5 million barrels)
- Shell Trading (US) Company (2.75 million barrels)
- Unipec America, Inc. (0.95 million barrels)
- Valero Marketing and Supply Company (6.85 million barrels)
From this sale, the SPR sold a total of 30 million barrels, and of that amount, 8 million barrels were sold from the SPR’s Bryan Mound site (near Freeport, TX), 9.6 million barrels from the West Hackberry site (near Hackberry, LA), 3.7 million barrels from the Bayou Choctaw site (near Baton Rouge, LA), and 8.7 million barrels from the Big Hill site (near Winnie, TX).