President Joe Biden's administration said on Monday it is reportedly selling 26 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — a step that may temporarily push the reserve below its current level of about 372 million barrels, its lowest level since 1983.
The Department of Energy said bids on the oil are scheduled on Feb. 28 and that the oil would be delivered from April 1 to June 30, Reuters reported.
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The DOE had mulled canceling the fiscal year 2023 sale of the 26 million barrels after the Biden administration sold a record 180 million barrels from the reserve last year. However, such a cancellation would have required Congress to act, the report said.
Brent crude futures were last trading lower by 0.88% at $85.9, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 1.12% to $79.24 at the time of writing.
The United States Brent Oil Fund BNO closed 0.63% lower on Monday, while the Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF VDE closed 0.42% lower.
Strategy: The department said it is executing a three-part strategy to refill the reserve in the long term, which includes repurchases with revenues from emergency sales, returns of over 25 million barrels of oil from previous exchanges, and working with Congress to avoid “unnecessary sales unrelated to supply disruptions to strategically maintain volume.”
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