Despite indicating they would refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve SPR by the end of this year, the Department of Energy has now canceled solicitations offered last month. Citing rising oil prices, the DOE said, “We will not award the current solicitations for the Bayou Choctaw SPR site and will solicit available capacity as market conditions allow.” Three million barrels of oil had been slated for delivery to the Bayou Choctaw SPR site in August and September.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden Administration made the largest withdrawal in SPR history to curb the oil price spikes that happened in the wake of the invasion. The DOE has consistently promised to refill the SPR as market conditions allow. One of the 2024 energy predictions I made in January had been “The Biden Administration won’t replace more than 10% of the oil removed from the SPR since Biden was inaugurated.