DOE Awards SPR Oil Sale Contracts

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management has revealed that contracts have been awarded from a recent congressionally mandated Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) crude oil sale.

A total of 15 companies responded and 104 bids were submitted for evaluation, following a notice of sale of up to 20 million barrels of SPR crude oil issued by the DOE on August 23. Contracts were awarded to the following eight companies:

• Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc.
• Chevron USA
• ExxonMobil Oil Corporation
• Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading, LLC
• Motiva Enterprises, LLC
• Phillips 66 Company
• Unipec America, Inc.
• Valero Marketing and Supply Company

Oil will be sold from each of the four underground salt cavern SPR sites as part of the latest crude sale. Out of the 20 million barrels of crude oil awarded, 5.1 million will be sold from the SPR’s Bryan Mound site, 6.1 million will be sold from the West Hackberry site, 750,000 will be sold from the Bayou Choctaw site and 8.05 million will be sold from the Big Hill site. The SPR plans to schedule deliveries between October 1 and December 15. 

The DOE noted that the congressionally mandated sale fulfills requirements of Sections 403 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and partially fulfills Section 30204 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The proceeds of the sale will be deposited in the U.S. Treasury by the end of the fiscal year, the DOE confirmed.

In the August 23 notice of sale, the DOE originally outlined that Bryan Mound, Big Hill and West Hackberry each had a maximum of eight million barrels to sell, and Bayou Choctaw could draw a maximum of one million barrels, to get to the 20 million barrel mark.

The SPR is the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program, according to the DOE. Created in the 1970s, the SPR offers the best security and most affordable means of storage, the DOE outlines on its website.

Earlier this month, the DOE authorized the SPR to conduct a second exchange with ExxonMobil Baton Rouge for an additional 1.5 million barrels of crude oil in response to Hurricane Ida. The DOE noted in a statement at the time that the SPR’s ability to conduct exchanges is a critical tool available to refiners to strengthen the fuel supply chain and mitigate disruptions following emergencies, like Hurricane Ida.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com