The U.S. is buying another 3 million barrels of oil for the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Department of Energy said on Monday, as it slowly replenishes the stockpile after the largest sale ever in 2022.
The oil, which is for delivery to the SPR in November, is being purchased at an average price of $77.69 per barrel, the department said.
The replenishment of the SPR is needed after President Joe Biden ordered the sale of 180 million barrels over six months in 2022 in an effort to control fuel prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The DOE said it has purchased back 38.6 million barrels, and that it would continue to look for opportunities to buy back oil for the stockpile.
The Biden administration has said it is looking to buy back oil for the SPR at about $79.99 per barrel or lower.
The U.S. government created the SPR after the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s sparked fears about supply, damaging the economy.
The DOE awarded contracts on Monday to BP Products North America Inc, for 600,000 barrels, Macquarie Commodities Trading US LLC, for 1.5 million barrels, and Atlantic Trading & Marketing, which sold 900,000 barrels.
The Biden administration says it has a three-pronged strategy to return oil to the reserve. That includes buying back oil, the return of oil loaned from the SPR to companies, and the cancellation of congressionally mandated sales of 140 million barrels of SPR oil through 2027. Democratic and Republican lawmakers had voted for those sales to pay for government programs.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler and Paul Simao)