The Office of Petroleum Reserve in the U.S. Department of Energy said recently it will purchase up to 6 million barrels of oil for delivery in December 2023 and January 2024 for the strategic petroleum reserve. DOE officials said the department will purchase oil at a maximum price of $79 per barrel for the SPR storage site at Big Hill in Jefferson County, Texas, about 26 miles southwest of Beaumont.
Bids for the first purchase of 3 million barrels for delivery in December were due Oct. 24, and bids for the second purchase of 3 million barrels for delivery in January are due by 10 a.m. (central) Wednesday, Nov. 1. DOE said it will make additional solicitations and purchases through at least May 2024. The SPR has storage capacity of 713.5 million barrels and currently holds about 371 million barrels of crude oil in four underground salt caverns along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Louisiana.