The Energy Department will start buying oil to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a price below $96 per barrel, the department announced today. Earlier the government said it would be lower than $72 a barrel, while $96 per barrel is the average price it was sold for over the past year that the Biden Administration has been draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The replenishment of the nation’s emergency fuel reserve will start with a repurchase of about 3 million barrels of oil.
“This initial step to fulfilling the President’s replenishment strategy follows his historic release from the SPR to address the significant global supply disruption caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine and provide a wartime bridge for domestic production to increase. The releases have helped lower gas prices for American families. National retail gas prices are now the cheapest since September 2021 and are down by over $1.80 per gallon since their peak in June 2022. DOE must receive bids for this notice no later than 10:00 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday, December 28, 2022,” the department announced. Deliveries will be expected by February.
The solicitation is posted to FedConnect, Sam.gov, and SPR websites. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been drained by the Biden Administration to the lowest level since 1986, and was timed to try to improve the fortunes of Democrats in the midterm elections by helping to drive prices for consumers down.
