The U.S. Department of Energy said it has purchased nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil to help replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the largest-ever release from the emergency reserve in 2022.
She added that about 800,000 barrels per month of relatively high-sulfur crude oil will be delivered to the reserve site in Bryan Mound, Texas, from January to March next year.
The ministry said the contract to buy oil worth more than $180.3 million was awarded to Macquarie Commodities Trading.
The ministry announced on Aug. 12 that it planned to buy up to 6 million barrels at a rate of 2 million barrels a month from January to March. It did not immediately respond to a query about whether it could buy the remaining 3.5 million barrels for the Bryan Mound delivery site during that time period.
The Biden administration is slowly replenishing the reserve after selling 180 million barrels from the facility in 2022 to control gasoline prices after Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Energy Department said the administration has so far bought back more than 47 million barrels, at an average price of $76.89 per barrel, about $18 less than the average price of $95 per barrel at which it sold oil in 2022.
