WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2021) The United States began soliciting bids for 10.1 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an Energy Department sales notice said on Thursday.
"This notice of sale is to fulfill the requirements of Section 403(a)(4) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (5 million barrels) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (5.1 million barrels), which combined require a mandatory sale of 10.1 million barrels during FY 2021," the notice said.
Oil will be sold from three Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites: Bryan Mound, Big Hill and West Hackberry.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil, and the federally owned oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana, according to the Energy Department.
