U.S. Department of Energy said this week it has purchased an additional 2.8 million barrels of crude oil produced in the U.S. for the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve. Contracts were awarded Thursday to three companies for September delivery to the Big Hill storage site in Jefferson County in southeast Texas. DOE has now purchased 32.3 million barrels of oil for the SPR at an average price of $76.98.
The SPR is the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil. The federally-owned oil stocks are stored underground in caverns at four sites in Texas and Louisiana.