US to add another 6 million bbls of crude to SPR

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves announced a new solicitation to buy up to 6 million bbls of crude oil to replenish its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs).

PHOTO: Oil barrels placed on top of the US flag. Getty Images

The crude oil will be delivered at the SPR’s Bayou Choctaw site from February 2025 through May 2025. Earlier in August, the US energy department purchased up to 2.5 million bbls of crude oil for deliveries in January 2025.

The energy department intends to buy about 6 million bbls of crude oil at an average price of $79/bbl or below, it said. About 1.5 million bbls of crude will be delivered per month from February next year through May, the DoE said.

The US energy department has so far purchased more than 50 million bbls of crude oil for the SPR at an average price of about $77/bbl. The crude oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four sites in Texas and Louisiana.

The SPR is one of the world’s largest emergency crude oil reserves. When the US purchases crude oil to fill its SPR, significant amounts of oil are removed from the market, which could potentially tighten supply and support oil prices.

“Given the recent weakness in oil prices, it makes sense for the Department of Energy (DoE) to increase purchases to refill the SPR,” two analysts from ING Bank remarked.

The SPRs stood at around 380 million bbls as of 13 September, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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