Marathon Petroleum Supply and Trading bought just under a quarter of the crude oil offered in the US Department of Energy’s latest sale from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with Equinor Marketing & Trading and Motiva Enterprises snagging the next-largest shares, the DOE reported Oct. 7.
A total of 10.15 million barrels of oil from the government stockpile are set to be delivered from Big Hill in Texas and West Hackberry in Louisiana between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, the DOE said.
The new contract awards are part of the Biden administration’s unprecedented 180 million-barrel SPR drawdown to help rein in gasoline prices that soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
DOE said 13 companies submitted 91 bids for oil following a Sept. 19 notice of sale.
The buyers were:
- Marathon (2.35 million barrels);
- Equinor (2.05 million barrels);
- Motiva (1.75 million barrels);
- Phillips 66 (1.4 million barrels);
- Macquarie Commodities Trading (900,000 barrels);
- Shell Trading (700,000 barrels);
- Atlantic Trading & Marketing (500,000 barrels); and
- Valero Marketing and Supply (500,000 barrels).
On top of the November deliveries, some 155 million barrels of crude have already been delivered or committed for delivery under the release to help mitigate global supply disruptions and lower energy costs.
Fuel prices tick up
Recession fears had helped to lower global oil prices and brought consumers some relief at the pump, but a 2 million b/d cut in OPEC’s production targets spurred a rally in oil prices in recent days.
In early trading Oct. 7, NYMEX November WTI settled $1.49/b higher at $88.45/b and ICE December Brent climbed $1.30/b to $94.42/b.
US retail gasoline prices averaged $3.78/gal the week ended Oct. 3, up 7 cents/gal from the prior week, while West Coast drivers were contending with an average pump price of $5.69/gal, 52 cents/gal higher than the previous week, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
