The Trump administration said on Thursday that it was offering to loan up to 30 million barrels of crude oil from the West Hackberry Strategic Petroleum Reserve site, marking the third solicitation of proposals from oil companies since fuel prices spiked due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Companies can submit proposals to exchange oil from the SPR until 11 a.m. Central Time (1600 GMT) on April 13, according to a document posted to the Energy Department’s website.
The United States is releasing oil from its strategic reserve as part of an agreement with 32 countries in the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil from reserves to ease supply pressures due to the Iran war.
Oil from the SPR is being released in the form of loans that companies will return with extra barrels as a premium, a system the DOE says will help stabilize markets “at no cost to American taxpayers.”
Ultimately, the U.S. aims to lend 172 million barrels from the SPR for delivery throughout this year and into 2027 as part of the IEA agreement.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Christian Martinez and Michelle Nichols )