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US purchases oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve into May next year

The U.S. is slowly renewing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, purchasing another 6 million barrels of oil this week for shipment through May next year, after the largest sale yet from the stockpile in 2022.

The Energy Department stated on Monday it purchased the oil for delivery from February through May to the reserve's Bayou Choctaw, Louisiana site.

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

WHAT IS THE SPR?

It is the world's biggest emergency situation oil stash. President Gerald Ford developed the SPR in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo led gasoline rates to spike and harmed the economy.

Presidents because have tapped the stockpile to soothe oil markets throughout war involving oil-producing countries or when typhoons hit oil facilities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The oil is kept in greatly safeguarded underground caverns at four sites on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

JUST HOW MUCH SPR OIL WAS SOLD IN 2022?

In 2022, the administration of President Joe Biden announced a sale of 180 million barrels of oil, the largest ever SPR sale, in an attempt to lower fuel prices after Russia got into Ukraine.

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

The administration states it offered the 180 million barrels at an average of about $95 a barrel.

It has because redeemed more than 56 million barrels of domestic oil at a typical cost of $76 a barrel, it says.

JUST HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE U.S. BUY BACK?

The direct purchases of oil for the SPR have actually cut the Energy Department's fund to about $150 million, or just enough to buy about another 2 million barrels at present prices.

But the U.S. can ask Congress to allocate more funds and it can continue to cancel congressionally-mandated sales from the reserve, that would have minimized the size of the reserve in future years.

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

Congress has actually mandated additional sales of about 100 million barrels of SPR oil from 2026 through 2031.

Due to the fact that purchasing and offering oil from the reserve can cause wear and tear on its underground hollowed-out salt caverns, cancelling future sales can be simpler on the SPR's. infrastructure.

PRESENT SPR LEVEL

The reserve now has 382.6 million barrels, most of which is. sour crude, or oil that many U.S. refineries are crafted to. procedure. The most it has held was nearly 727 million barrels in. 2009.

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

But the administration states it has a three-pronged strategy. to keep the SPR equipped, consisting of redeeming oil, the return. of oil lent to companies, and cancelling sales that Congress. mandated.

As members of the International Energy Firm, the West's. energy guard dog, the U.S. and other countries are required to. hold 90 days' worth of imports in reserve. But the U.S., which. is producing more oil than any other country ever has, is now a. net exporter of crude oil and petroleum items.

(source: Reuters)