The Biden administration has awarded Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) contracts for 2.95 million barrels of oil worth about $229.5 million to four companies, the U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday.
The U.S.-produced crude oil is being purchased for an average price of $77.81 per barrel, lower than the average of about $95 per barrel that SPR crude was sold for in 2022, the Energy Department said in a statement.
The four companies that won contracts are Atlantic Trading & Marketing, BP Products North America, ExxonMobil Oil Corp and Macquarie Commodities Trading US LLC.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Leslie Adler)