U.S. Department of Energy said Friday it awarded contracts to five companies to deliver 3.1 million barrels of crude oil to the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve at Big Hill SPR site in Jefferson County south of Beaumont in southeast Texas. DOE announced a purchase plan in May to refill the emergency stockpile after a record release by the Biden administration following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year intended to stabilize oil markets and combat high pump prices of gasoline. DOE’s announcement said, “These three million barrels are being purchased for an average price of about $73 per barrel – lower than the average of about $95 per barrel that SPR crude was sold for in 2022 – securing a good deal for taxpayers.”
Contracts were awarded to Atlantic Trading and Marketing (1 million barrels), ExxonMobil (900,000 barrels), Gunvor USA (600,000 barrels) Macquarie Commodities Trading (300,000 barrels) and Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals (300,000 barrels).