The U.S. added 1.8 million bbl of crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in December, bringing the 2024 replenishment to 39.4 million bbl, the Department of Energy said on Monday.

The agency said there are 393.8 million bbl of crude in the reserve, including 143.3 million bbl of sweet crude and 250.5 million bbl of sour crude.

As with other recent additions, all the oil added in December was sour crude, DOE data showed.

The year-to-year increase in the reserve's holdings was the largest seen since 2002, when stock rose by nearly 49.8 million bbl, according to Energy Information Administration data.

With December representing the last full month of the Biden administration, SPR levels are more than 38% below where they were when Biden took office in January 2021.

The administration that year began a regular series of releases, first to ease rising energy prices amid the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and then to cushion supply disruptions after Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The administration has been taking advantage of relatively low oil prices in recent months to begin refilling the SPR, with DOE routinely setting a $79.99/bbl cap on bids.

The administration's efforts to refill the reserve will continue even after President-elect Donald Trump takes office this month. In recent months, the administration has awarded contracts for delivery of 2 million bbl/month to the reserve's Bryan Mound site in Texas from January through March. The DOE will wrap up the current refill effort with 2.4 million bbl of crude to be delivered to Bryan Mound in April and May.

While campaigning for president, Trump promised to refill the reserve to its former level.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opis.net; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 06, 2025 12:22 ET (17:22 GMT)

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