OREANDA-NEWS  “The President’s announcement called [for the] release [of] one million barrels of SPR crude oil per day over six months,” the department said, noting that this was expected to last until the end of October 2022.  “DOE plans to release, from the SPR, up to 2.8 million barrels of sour crude oil and 17.2 million barrels of sweet crude oil, totaling 20 million barrels with deliveries from September 16 until October 21, 2022.”The Department of Energy said bids must be received by August 2 for the new SPR sales and will contracts will be awarded no later than August 11.The SPR is the world's largest supply of emergency crude, with the US federally-owned oil reserve stored in underground salt caverns at four storage sites in the US states of Texas and Louisiana.At its peak in 2009, the SPR had as much as 727 million barrels in storage.

The current reserve level stands at just around 480 million barrels, with the bulk of it drawn down by the Biden administration in its bid to lower record high fuel domestic prices in the aftermath of the Western sanctions imposed on Russian oil imports over the Ukraine conflict.The White House issued a statement saying gasoline at US fuel pumps were down at least 40 cents per gallon as a direct result of the SPR releases of crude into the market. On Tuesday, the average gasoline price at the pump was at $4.32 a gallon from an all-time high of $5.01 in mid-May, the American Automobile Association said.The Department of Energy also announced plans to repurchase oil for the SPR in future years, likely after the government’s financial year ending in 2023.The Biden administration has, however, been criticized for using the SPR to lower fuel prices when it was meant purely for emergency situations of short supply.