The US Department of Energy said Monday it awarded contracts for the exchange of about 53.3 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as part of the country's effort to stabilize global oil supplies.
The contracts were awarded to companies including Marathon Petroleum for 12.4 million barrels, Trafigura Trading for 12.98 million barrels, and ExxonMobil for 11.4 million barrels, among others.
"With today's announcement of contract awards, we are advancing the President's commitment to carrying out this historic emergency exchange," DOE Assistant Secretary for the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office Kyle Haustveit said in a statement.
The department said the exchange would secure an approximately 28% return premium, equivalent to 15.1 million barrels, and follows earlier exchange actions that already awarded around 80 million barrels from SPR sites.