US Will Buy 3 Million More Barrels for Emergency Reserve

The Energy Department announced Friday it planned to purchase 3 million more barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

(Bloomberg) — The Energy Department announced Friday it planned to purchase 3 million more barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

A previous solicitation for about 3 million barrels resulted in contracts awarded to five companies, with the oil being purchased for an average price of about $73 per barrel, according to a DOE statement.

The move marks the agency’s attempts to begin replenishing the emergency reserve after it released more than 200 million barrels last year, in part to curb high energy prices.

The department said it would accept bids for the new solicitation of sour crude oil through June 20 and contracts would be awarded by June 30 for deliveries in September.

Below is the list of companies awarded supply contracts in the previous tender, where the DOE bought the full volume for an average price of $73.39 a barrel. The volume is for delivery in August:

–With assistance from Lucia Kassai.

(Updates with tender bid dates, delivery month in fourth paragraph; awardees in table.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com