Department of Energy to Purchase 3 Million Barrels of Oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Move aims to replenish nation's emergency stockpile, depleted to a 40-year low following last year's largest one-time drawdown.

The Department of Energy is looking to purchase up to 3 million barrels of oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, aiming to replenish the nation's emergency stockpile after it was drained last year to a 40-year low.
The Energy Department has already purchased roughly 9 million barrels for the SPR at an average of $75 per barrel and secured nearly 4 million barrels in accelerated exchange returns.
The update comes after President Joe Biden ordered the sale of 180 million barrels of SPR oil last March, the largest one-time drawdown in history, in an effort to stabilize soaring energy costs for consumers in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While the SPR sales did help alleviate prices for consumers, they also depleted the nation's emergency stockpile, sending levels plummeting to their lowest level since the stockpile's creation in the 1980s and prompting concerns that the low supply could leave the United States vulnerable and resource-strapped in the event of an emergency.
Current SPR levels stand at 352 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, just slightly higher than in July, when levels reached an all-time low of 347,000 barrels.