The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy announced today they will commence a sale of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as early as January 2017.
On December 10, a Continuing Resolution was enacted into law that included a provision to allow DOE to sell up to $375.4 million in crude oil from the SPR, the first tranche of oil sales designed to fund operational improvements necessary to ensure the long-term integrity of SPR infrastructure assets as part of the SPR Modernization program. Section 404 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 included authorization for funding an SPR Modernization program through the sale of up to $2 billion worth of SPR crude oil over four consecutive fiscal years commencing in fiscal year 2017.
Any company registered in the SPR’s Crude Oil Sales Offer Program is eligible to participate in SPR crude oil sales. Companies may register by going to http://www.spr.doe.gov and then following the instructions for registering.
With an inventory of approximately 695 million barrels, the SPR remains the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil. The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana.
