The U.S. has bought nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil to help replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the largest sale ever from the facility in 2022, the Energy Department said on Friday.
About 800,000 barrels per month of the domestically produced sour, or relatively high in sulfur, oil will be delivered to reserve’s the Bryan Mound, Texas, site from January to March next year, it said.
The contract for the purchase of more than $180.3 million of oil was awarded to Macquarie Commodities Trading US LLC, it said.
The administration of President Joe Biden is slowly replenishing the reserve after it sold 180 million barrels from the facility in 2022 in a move to control gasoline prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So far the administration has bought back more than 47 million barrels, the Energy Department said, at an average price of $76.89 a barrel, about $18 lower than the average price of $95 per barrel it sold the oil in 2022.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner Editing by Marguerita Choy)