DOE Solicits New Strategic Petroleum Reserve Exchange of Up to 17 Million Barrels
Washington — The U.S. Department of Energy on October 16 issued a request for proposals for an exchange of up to 17 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to Reuters. The solicitation is the latest step in a global arrangement struck in March to try to control fuel prices affected by the war on Iran: Washington agreed then to loan 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a wider International Energy Agency deal in which about 30 countries would release 400 million barrels.
Under the exchange mechanism, participating companies must later return the borrowed crude together with additional premium barrels. The United States previously offered the last batch from the March deal in June, but companies, required to pay premiums of up to 24% in the form of extra barrels returned to the reserve, agreed to borrow only about 500,000 barrels.
Separately, as this site reported on October 10, the Energy Department authorized an emergency exchange of up to 4 million barrels to address hurricane-related supply disruptions in the Gulf, with ExxonMobil and BP taking up to 2 million barrels each and returning the crude with a premium in 2027. The 17-million-barrel solicitation belongs to the March coordinated-release arrangement, not to that hurricane exchange.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：战略石油储备站点的原油管道与阀站（资料图）。摄影：美国能源部（ENERGY.GOV），公共领域，来源：Wikimedia Commons / Photo: Crude oil pipelines and a valve station at a Strategic Petroleum Reserve site (file photo). Credit: U.S. Department of Energy (ENERGY.GOV), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
