US plans sale of 10 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks in November

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - The US plans to sell up to 10 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to help lower energy costs for American families, the country's Department of Energy announced Tuesday.

The sale is part of US President Joe Biden’s pledge to release a total of 180 million barrels from the country’s SPR in March to support the market in the face of supply disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The move came after Biden had repeatedly asked OPEC+ producers to increase the group's collective output to provide additional market supply to lower crude prices.

However, as the group did not comply with his demands, a US-led coordinated effort ensued with other major energy-consuming nations to release reserves in China, India, Japan, South Korea and the UK.

Deliveries of the less sulfuric sweet crude oil from the SPR will be made in November.

The department said with the sale of the last batch, some 165 million barrels of oil would be sold out of a total of 180 million barrels.

The sale will be conducted from the SPR's sites in Big Hill, Texas and West Hackberry, Louisiana to potential buyers no later than Oct. 7.

The US has the world's largest SPR of more than 600 million barrels stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites located on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Citing a recent analysis from the US Department of the Treasury, the US energy department said the SPR releases this year, along with coordinated releases from other consuming countries, have reduced gasoline prices by up to about 40 US cents per gallon.

Since June 2022, retail gas prices have dropped over more than thirteen consecutive weeks, it added.