The Biden administration is delaying the replenishment of emergency oil reserves after receiving proposals that were too expensive, Bloomberg reported.
According to the US authorities, the oil offers they got were either too expensive or did not meet the required specifications.
The US Department of Energy has rejected a batch of proposals from oil companies to resupply strategic stockpiles. “DOE will only select bids that meet the required crude specifications and that are at a price that is a good deal for taxpayers,” the agency said. Bidders who meet all the requirements have not been selected yet.
It became known in December 2022 that the Energy Department was planning to purchase 3 million barrels of crude for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That would help replenish the stockpile with the missing 15 million barrels of oil released for sale to combat high gasoline prices in the country. On top of that, the Biden administration planned to use additional volumes of crude from the SPR if necessary.
At the end of 2022, the US strategic reserves shrank to 375.1 million barrels. They have been declining weekly since September 2021 and are currently at their lowest level since 1983.
