The U.S. Energy Department announced Monday that it plans to buy up to 3 million barrels of crude oil for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. News of the planned repurchase of oil follows the historic drawdown of 180 million barrels announced by President Joe Biden in the spring of 2022. The purchases are part of the Biden-Harris administration’s three-part replenishment plan, which includes direct purchases with revenues from emergency sales, exchange returns, including a premium to volume delivered, and securing legislative solutions that avoid unnecessary sales unrelated to supply disruptions, the agency said. For the week ended May 5, stocks in the SPR totaled 362 million barrels, down 2.9 million barrels for the week, according to the Energy Information Administration. The amount of oil in the SPR, which has a capacity to hold around 713 million barrels, stands at its lowest since the 1980s. June West Texas Intermediate crude CLM23 traded at $71.32 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the $71.11 Nymex settlement.
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