A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard Carson
The United States has sold a 10.15 million barrel batch of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to eight companies, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
First offered in September, the sale was part of President Joe Biden's previously announced plan to sell 180 million barrels of oil from the reserve to fight high petroleum prices after the war in Ukraine.
Companies receiving SPR oil were Equinor Marketing and Trading, Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC, Valero Marketing and Supply Company, Motiva Enterprises, Macquarie Commodities and Trading US LLC, Atlantic Trading & Marketing Inc, Phillips 66 Company, and Shell Trading Company.
The administration has now sold about 165 million barrels of the sale, the largest ever from the SPR, since May. Deliveries will take place in November.
The Biden administration has said more oil sales from the SPR could be undertaken in the wake of a decision this week by OPEC+, a group that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, to cut oil output by 2 million barrels per day.
The drawdowns have pushed oil supply in the SPR down to the lowest level since July 1984, but it still holds more than required under an agreement with global oil consuming countries.
