The US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded contracts to 12 companies for 30 million bbl from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
This second emergency sale was conducted as part of a coordinated action with international allies and partners to support American consumers and the global economy in response to the war in Ukraine, the department said in an Apr. 21 release.
A total of 16 companies responded to the April 1 sale notice, submitting 126 bids for evaluation.
Contracts were awarded to:
- Atlantic Trading & Marketing Inc. (2.1 million bbl)
- Chevron USA (1.025 million bbl)
- Equinor Marketing & Trading (0.7 million bbl)
- ExxonMobil Oil Corp. (3.6 million bbl)
- Glencore Ltd. (2.6 million bbl)
- Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC (2.375 million bbl)
- Mercuria (0.5 million bbl)
- Motiva Enterprises LLC (4.05 million bbl)
- Phillips 66 Co. (2.5 million bbl)
- Shell Trading (US) Co. (2.75 million bbl)
- Unipec America Inc. (0.95 million bbl)
- Valero Marketing and Supply Co. (6.85 million bbl)
President Biden has authorized the release of 1 million b/d from the SPR for the next 6 months. Collectively, 30 other International Energy Agency member countries agreed to release an additional 60 million bbl.
Combined with already-scheduled releases, these new contracts mean that the SPR is now scheduled to deliver 50 million bbl in May and June. The DOE plans to issue a third Notice of Sale on May 24 for an additional 40 million bbl and for delivery starting in June.
Of the 30 million bbl sold, 8 million bbl were sold from the SPR’s Bryan Mound site (near Freeport, Tex.), 9.6 million bbl from the West Hackberry site (near Hackberry, La.), 3.7 million bbl from the Bayou Choctaw site (near Baton Rouge, La.), and 8.7 million bbl from the Big Hill site (near Winnie, Tex.).
