US to add 1 million bbls of crude to SPR
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves announced a new solicitation to buy up to 1 million bbls of crude oil to replenish its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs).
IMAGE: Oil storage tanks. Getty Images
The crude oil will be delivered to the SPR’s Bryan Mound site, with deliveries scheduled for December 2025 and January 2026.
In November 2024, the US energy department purchased up to 2.4 million bbls of crude oil for deliveries in April-May 2025.
The DoE will purchase the 1 million bbls of crude oil totalling $171 million, it said “The solicitation invites bids for an initial purchase of one million barrels of oil through a spot-price-indexed contract,” the DoE added.
"The US administration is looking to take advantage of lower oil prices to refill its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR)," ING Bank's head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson remarked.
The US SPR is one of the world’s largest emergency crude oil reserves. When the US purchases crude oil to fill its SPR, significant amounts of oil are removed from the market, which could potentially tighten supply and support oil prices.
The crude oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four sites in Texas and Louisiana.
The SPR stands at around 409 million bbls as of 17 October, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. This is higher than the "low of 347m barrels [347 million bbls] in 2023, but still well below the 656m barrels [656 million bbls] held in 2020," Patterson added.
By Aparupa Mazumder
Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online
