Energy Department seeks more oil for U.S. stockpiles as White House says it might be tapped again

The Energy Department on Wednesday issued another request to buy oil in an ongoing effort to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The announcement comes two days after Reuters reported that Amos Hochstein, President Joe Bidens’ energy adviser, said there’s a sufficient supply of oil in the SPR to use it to address supply concerns.

"For now I think we'll continue to monitor markets and if we need to use the SPR the president has shown a willingness to use it to support the U.S. economy,” Reuters quoted Hochstein saying.

Since initiating the oil buys to refill the SPR several months ago, the DOE has procured 32.3 million barrels of oil over the last several months, according to the DOE announcement, at an average price of $76.98.

In June 2022, the average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. was nearly $4.30 per gallon. With the midterms approaching, the high cost of gas threatened to push more voters toward Republican candidates. In an effort to bring those prices down, Biden began tapping the SPR.



Prior to the announcement of the sale in March 2022, the reserve held 565 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. It dropped below 370 million barrels by July 2023.