WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2021) The United States has released 250,000 barrels from its oil reserve to Marathon Petroleum under a second sale-and-exchange deal aimed at reducing pump prices of fuel, the Department of Energy said Thursday.
The transaction follows a previous sale-and-exchange deal with ExxonMobil for 4.8 million barrels, the department said. "Today, the US Department of Energy (DOE) approved a second exchange of 250,000 barrels of crude oil for release to Marathon Petroleum Company from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)," a news release from the agency said.
The DOE announced two weeks ago that up to 32 million barrels would be released from the SPR through the sale-and-exchange program.
"As with all exchanges, companies that receive SPR crude oil through the exchange agree to return the amount of crude oil received, as well as an additional amount, dependent upon the length of time in which they hold the oil," Thursday's news release said.
Through the exchange program, the Biden administration hopes to reduce the amount of crude oil 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.
Prices of crude oil and fuel at US pumps hit their highest since 2014 as global oil exporters under the OPEC+ alliance cut output despite higher demand for energy in a world recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
President Joe Biden announced last month that the United States will join other major oil consuming countries under a coordinated action to release crude from their reserves in order to tamp down inflation from soaring energy prices.
