Using data and information from several industry sources, Reuters reported that over 5 million barrels of oil from U.S. emergency oil reserves were exported overseas last month.
The news: One shipment reportedly contained 470,000 barrels of oil, which was sent from a storage facility in Texas to Trieste, Italy. From there, pipelines distribute oil to other refineries in Europe, according to Insider.
- Another industry insider reported, via Bloomberg, that oil was being transported from Nederland, Texas, to a major European port in Rotterdam.
- Cargoes from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were also exported from the U.S. to India, China and the Netherlands, industry sources told Reuters.
A look back: In March, President Joe Biden announced that 1 million barrels of oil per day would be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to soften the blow of rising gas prices, which were a result of sanctions against Russia, the Deseret News previously reported.
- “Americans are feeling Putin’s gas price hike at the pump. That’s why today, I’m authorizing the release of 1 million barrels a day from our Strategic Petroleum reserve — and taking steps to lay a new foundation for lasting American energy independence through clean energy,” Biden tweeted at the time.
- The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an underground storage site along the Gulf Coast owned by the federal government.
- The reserve holds a stockpile of petroleum to be used in the case of an emergency, per the Deseret News.
Details: Reuters says that the SPR is currently at its lowest inventory since 2004, with Gulf Coast oil refineries at 97.9% utilization — the highest they have been in three and a half years.