WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the fourth Notice of Sale of 45 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This Notice of Sale is part of President Biden’s announcement on March 31, 2022 to release one million barrels of crude oil a day for six months to address the global supply disruption caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine and help stabilize volatile energy costs for American families. 

DOE also announced that contracts have been awarded for the purchase of crude oil from the SPR announced in a Notice of Sale on May 24, 2022. These barrels will be released between June 15 and July 31, 2022.

Combined with 3.3 million barrels of SPR crude oil scheduled for delivery this month from emergency exchanges authorized earlier this year, a total of 17 companies responded to the notice, submitting 124 bids for evaluation. Contracts were awarded to the following nine companies:

• Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. (1.85 million barrels)
• Chevron USA (0.90 million barrels)
• Equinor Marketing & Trading (2.05 million barrels)
• ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (5.15 million barrels)
• Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC (8.51 million barrels)
• Motiva Enterprises LLC (4.20 million barrels)
• Phillips 66 Company (1.30 million barrels)
• Shell Trading (US) Company (0.700 million barrels)
• Valero Marketing and Supply Company (11.65 million barrels)

Deliveries from the fourth Notice of Sale will take place from August 16, 2022 through September 30, 2022. DOE must receive bids for the first Notice of Sale no later than 10:00 a.m. Central Time on June 28, 2022, and will award contracts to successful offers no later than July 8, 2022. 

The May through July sales will be conducted with crude oil from the following four SPR sites:

• Up to 8.25 million barrels from Bryan Mound
• Up to 15.5 million barrels from Big Hill
• Up to 14 million barrels from West Hackberry
• Up to 7.25 million barrels from Bayou Choctaw

The SPR is the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil, and the federally owned oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana. The SPR has a long history of protecting the economy and American livelihoods in times of emergency oil shortages.

For more information on the SPR please visit Infographic: Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Fact Sheet: Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Sign up to receive future FECM news alerts here.