US to buy 3 million barrels of oil for strategic petroleum reserves
The US administration announced that it will purchase up to 3 million barrels of crude oil for its strategic petroleum reserve to be delivered in August. The US, which sold crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserve last year to help reduce gasoline prices, is continuing to purchase crude oil to replenish its reserves. In a statement, the US Department of Energy announced that up to 3 million barrels of crude oil will be purchased for delivery in August. The statement noted that the new purchases will be made for the Big Hill Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Texas. In March of last year, US President Joe Biden allowed a total of over 180 million barrels of oil to be released to the market from the country’s strategic petroleum reserve in the face of rapidly increasing gasoline prices in the US following the war that Russia started in Ukraine. With the sales of oil from the country’s reserves, the percentage of crude oil in the US’s strategic reserve fell to its lowest level since 1983, raising concerns about energy security. In December of last year, the US administration announced that 3 million barrels of crude oil would be purchased for the strategic petroleum reserve to be delivered in February.