WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday said it sold 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to six companies, completing the last batch of the largest-ever release from the stockpile announced by President Joe Biden in March.
The contracts were awarded to Phillips 66, Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading LLC, Shell Trading (US), Valero Marketing and Supply, Macquarie Commodities Trading US, and Equinor Marketing and Trading, the Energy Department said in a statement. Deliveries will take place from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31.
Biden sold 180 million barrels of oil from the reserve to fight oil prices that had spiked on concerns about Russia’s war on Ukraine, stronger demand as global consumers emerged from the pandemic, and U.S. drillers struggling at first to boost output….