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United States looks for oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve into May next year

The U.S. is gradually renewing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, seeking to purchase another up to 6 million barrels of oil for shipment through May next year, after the largest sale yet from the stockpile in 2022.

The Energy Department said on Wednesday it is looking for to purchase the oil for shipment from February through May to the reserve's. Bayou Choctaw, Louisiana website. Reuters exclusively reported the. news a day earlier.

Here are realities about the SPR and efforts to put oil back in.

WHAT IS THE SPR?

It is the world's biggest emergency oil stash. President. Gerald Ford developed the SPR in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo. led gas prices to increase and damaged the economy.

Presidents considering that have actually tapped the stockpile to relax oil. markets during war involving oil-producing countries or when. cyclones struck oil facilities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The oil is held in heavily protected underground caverns at. four websites on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

HOW MUCH SPR OIL WAS SOLD IN 2022?

In 2022, the administration of President Joe Biden revealed. a sale of 180 million barrels of oil over 6 months, the. largest SPR sale to date, in an effort to lower gasoline rates. after Russia attacked Ukraine.

The Department of Energy likewise performed a sale of 38 million. barrels in 2022 that had been mandated by Congress.

WHAT PRICE DOES THE US WANT TO BUY SPR OIL?

The administration states it sold the 180 million barrels at. an average of about $95 a barrel. It wants to redeem oil at. $ 79 to $79.99 or less.

Prices of the U.S. oil criteria West Texas Intermediate. fell to about $70.91 a barrel on Wednesday as a rate cut. from the Federal Reserve raised fret about the health of the. U.S. economy.

Conflict in the Middle East and other aspects could quickly. boost oil costs, nevertheless In April, the U.S. canceled an SPR. purchase of oil due to increasing costs.

HOW MUCH IS COMING BACK?

The administration has so far bought back more than 50. million barrels of domestic oil given that the historic 2022 sale at. a typical rate of $76 a barrel, it states.

ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington based research. group, estimates that the Energy Department has about $840. million left in its account to buy back SPR oil, or enough for. about 10.5 million barrels at present costs.

In late 2022, the DOE dealt with Congress to cancel the. sale of 140 million barrels of SPR oil through 2027. Democratic. and Republican legislators had chosen those sales to pay for. federal government programs.

To keep filling the SPR after the money in the account. is exhausted, the department would have to get Congress to. allocate extra funds. It could also work to cancel future. congressionally-mandated sales.

PRESENT SPR LEVEL

The reserve holds 380 million barrels, the majority of which is sour. crude, or oil that lots of U.S. refineries are crafted to. process. The most it has held was almost 727 million barrels in. 2009.

The sales in 2022 reduced levels of the SPR to the lowest in. about 40 years. That outraged some Republicans who implicated the. Democratic administration of leaving the U.S. with a thin supply. buffer to respond to a future crisis.

The administration says it has a three-pronged technique to. return oil to the reserve.

That consists of buying back oil, the return of oil lent from. the SPR to companies, and canceling congressionally mandated. sales of 140 million barrels of SPR oil through 2027. Both. Democratic and Republican legislators had voted for those sales to. spend for government programs.

The U.S., which is producing more oil than any other country. ever has, is now a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum. products. As members of the International Energy Company, the. West's energy watchdog, the U.S. and other nations are. needed to hold 90 days' worth of imports in reserve. So under. that guideline, the U.S. is not required at the minute to hold. reserves.

(source: Reuters)