A federal effort to sell roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve could begin deliveries as early as April and continue well into 2021.
The reserve, which was sitting at 638.1 million barrels as of Jan. 8 according to the US Energy Information Administration, has slowly declined since peaking at more than 726 million barrels in early 2010. But that decline has coincided with gains in commercial storage over most of the last decade as the nation's shale oil boom took hold.
The sale of more than 10 million barrels of crude will be phased-in throughout 2021 -- as congressionally mandated -- with deliveries expected to begin in May, if not sooner, the US Department of Energy said, citing its confidence in the long-term health of global crude markets.
Another roughly 10 million barrels could be sold to raise up to $450 million to help fund the Strategic Petroleum Reserve's infrastructure modernization plans.
