Seven companies from a total of 13 won bids to receive and process the crude released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Energy Department said in a statement on Wednesday. They include Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading, which obtained 16.06 million barrels; Valero Marketing and Supply Company (4.75 million barrels); Phillips 66 Company (4.2 million barrels); Motiva Enterprises, LLC (2.55 million barrels); Chevron USA (1.265 million barrels); Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. (1.05 million barrels); and Gunvor USA (0.350 million barrels).
“Contracts have been awarded for all 30 million barrels put up for sale from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” the statement said. “This fully-subscribed sale is part of a coordinated action with the 30 member countries of the International Energy Agency to collectively release an initial 60 million barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserves.“
Companies that receive oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve typically return what they had taken, along with an agreed additional amount, to compensate the US government for the gesture.
Through the so-called exchange program, the Biden administration hopes to reduce the amount of crude that petroleum refiners buy directly from the open market in order to cap prices for both the raw material and the fuel sold at pumps.
The average price of gasoline at US pumps hit record highs above $4 a gallon this month after market tightness exacerbated by sanctions on major energy exporter Russia by Western nations. Brent, the global benchmark for crude, itself hit 14-year highs above $139 a barrel on March 7, before clambering down to below $100 this week.
Prior to the 30-million barrel release announced on Wednesday, the Energy Department had contracted out 24.4 million barrels under the exchange program that occurred between November and the first week of March.