The United States agreed earlier this year to withdraw 172 million barrels of reserves, as part of a broader agreement with more than 30 countries in the International Energy Agency to withdraw about 400 million barrels.
According to Reuters, Washington has so far offered 126 million barrels of crude oil in 3 batches, but oil companies have bought less than 80 million barrels, or about 63 percent of the quantity offered.
If companies buy the entire new quantity, the United States will have achieved its goal of withdrawing 172 million barrels.
The American move comes in light of political and economic concern about the continued rise in oil prices, especially before the midterm congressional elections next November, which constitute a test for Trump’s Republican allies.
Despite the withdrawal from reserves, prices continued to rise, as global crude oil briefly exceeded $126 per barrel today, Thursday, the highest level in 4 years, amid fears of a prolonged disruption in Middle East supplies.
Withdrawals from the strategic reserve are made in the form of oil loans that companies later return with additional barrels, a mechanism that the US Department of Energy says helps stabilize markets “at no cost to American taxpayers.”
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently includes about 398 million barrels, stored in salt caves in 4 locations on the coast of Texas and Louisiana, an amount approximately equivalent to the world’s oil consumption in 4 days. (Arabic)
