The U.S. Energy Department on Friday said that it awarded contracts for the previously announced plan to purchase 3 million barrels of crude oil for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The agency is purchasing the oil for an average price of about $73 a barrel and the oil will be delivered in August. It also announced plans for an additional purchase of 3.1 million barrels of oil for the Big Hill SPR site this September, as part of President Joe Biden’s “replenishment strategy” following his historic release from the SPR in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war’s disruption to global oil supplies. U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery
CLN23,
settled at $70.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, down $1.2, or 1.6%, for the session.
