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US DOE Awards Contracts for 53.3 Million Barrels of SPR Emergency Crude Exchange

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The US Department of Energy awarded contracts for an emergency exchange of about 53.3 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, it said in a Monday statement.

The move is part of the US' broader 172-mmbbl contribution to the International Energy Agency's coordinated oil supply action.

The exchange awards will not only move crude supplies quickly into the market, but also secure a 28% premium in the form of additional barrels upon return.

Previous emergency exchange actions awarded about 80 mmbbls of crude oil.

DOE also said that it has carried out "a historic, record-speed series of SPR exchange solicitations," which it described as the largest in the SPR's 50-year history.

The latest crude exchange will draw oil from the SPR's Bayou Choctaw, Bryan Mound, Big Hill and West Hackberry storage sites.

Under the exchange program, participating companies will return the borrowed crude oil with premium barrels totaling 15.1 mmbbls, helping expand SPR inventories while supplying refiners and global oil markets, DOE said.

Companies may begin scheduling deliveries immediately as DOE continues evaluating additional actions to meet the full US commitment under the coordinated international release, according to the department.

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