US to release 172mn barrels from SPR in co-ordination with IEA

US President Donald Trump authorised the US Department of Energy (DoE) to release 172mn barrels from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last week. The release forms part of a broader move by member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to make 400mn barrels of oil available to the market from their emergency reserves, agreed on the same day.

The 32 member countries of the IEA agreed on March 11 to make the reserves available in an effort to address oil market disruption stemming from the crisis in the Middle East. The IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, described it as “an emergency collective action of unprecedented size”.

The US contribution is set to make up a large share of the release. US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on March 11 that the US release would begin the following week, taking roughly 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates.

In a subsequent announcement on March 13, the DoE said it had issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a crude exchange from the SPR. The first RFP covered 86mn barrels of oil. Under the terms of the exchange, companies will be expected to return the borrowed oil to the SPR with additional barrels as a premium.

This comes after Trump and other Republicans criticised the administration of former US President Joe Biden for a series of SPR drawdowns during his time in office. These drawdowns included a record sale of 180mn barrels in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which had sent crude and gasoline prices spiking and prompted the Biden administration to authorise an SPR release to help lower prices.

The SPR contained around 415mn barrels – around 60% of its capacity – when the Trump administration announced its drawdown last week. Trump had vowed to fill the reserve, and the details of the RFP show how he is now trying to balance this with allowing a new drawdown.

Under the first RFP, barrels will be made available from the SPR’s Bryan Mound, West Hackberry and Bayou Choctaw sites.

“By participating in the coordinated international release, we are helping ensure that supply remains reliable during a period of heightened global uncertainty,” stated the Assistant Secretary of the DoE’s Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office, Kyle Haustveit.