The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that contracts have been awarded for the purchase of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) following a notice of sale announced on 14 June
A total of 14 companies responded to the notice, submitting 68 bids for oil from the four SPR sites, the DOE revealed. Contracts were said to have been awarded to the following companies:
Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. (0.700 million barrels)
BP Products North America (0.700 million barrels)
Chevron USA (1.15 million barrels)
Equinor Marketing & Trading (3.65 million barrels)
ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (3.75 million barrels)
Glencore (0.575 million barrels)
Macquarie Commodities Trading US LLC (1.33 million barrels)
Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC (5.93 million barrels)
Motiva Enterprises LLC (4.20 million barrels)
Phillips 66 Company (2.15 million barrels)
Shell Trading (US) Company (2.46 million barrels)
Unipec America, Inc. (0.950 million barrels)
Valero Marketing and Supply Company (10.35 million barrels)
Vitol Inc. (1 million barrels)
Crude oil deliveries will take place from each of the SPR storage sites between 16 August and 30 September, according to the DOE, which noted that the contract awards are part of President Biden’s announcement on 31 March to release one million barrels of crude oil a day for six months.
On 14 June the DOE announced a notice of sale of 45 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR. On the same day, the DOE also revealed that contracts had been awarded for the purchase of crude oil from the SPR announced in a notice of sale on 24 May. A total of 17 companies responded to that notice, submitting 124 bids for evaluation, according to the DOE, which highlighted that 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)
On May 24, the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced a notice of sale of up to 40.1 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR. Back in April, the DOE announced that contracts had been awarded for 30 million barrels from the SPR that was noticed for sale in the same month. A total of 16 companies responded to that notice, submitting 126 bids for evaluation, according to the DOE, which noted that contracts were awarded to the following 12 companies.
Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. (2.1 million barrels)
Chevron USA (1.025 million barrels)
Equinor Marketing & Trading (0.7 million barrels)
ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (3.6 million barrels)
Glencore Ltd. (2.6 million barrels)
Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC (2.375 million barrels)
Mercuria (0.5 million barrels)
Motiva Enterprises LLC (4.05 million barrels)
Phillips 66 Company (2.5 million barrels)
Shell Trading (US) Company (2.75 million barrels)
Unipec America, Inc. (0.95 million barrels)
Valero Marketing and Supply Company (6.85 million barrels)
In a statement posted on the DOE website on March 31, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said the DOE would execute President Biden’s authorization of an immediate release of one million barrels per day for six months from the SPR.
“This historic action is the latest move by the Biden-Harris administration to lower energy costs for working families,” Granholm said in a DOE statement at the time.
•By Andreas Exarheas
andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com