In a statement posted on its X page recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it had issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an exchange of up to 40 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The move continues the DOE’s execution of the 172 million barrel release previously announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, in coordination with the International Energy Agency (IEA) member nations’ overall 400 million barrel commitment, the statement highlighted.
This action builds on the DOE’s five previous solicitations that collectively awarded more than 133 million barrels across four completed exchanges, the DOE noted.
“DOE’s earlier exchanges demonstrated the SPR’s ability to rapidly deliver crude under emergency authorities while achieving a 25 percent premium in returned barrels – expanding the reserve and saving taxpayers billions of dollars,” the DOE said in its statement.
The DOE pointed out in its statement that deliveries under awarded exchanges are scheduled for November and December 2026. For its latest exchange, crude oil will originate from the SPR’s Big Hill and Bryan Mound site, the DOE revealed.
“Under DOE’s exchange authority, participating companies will return the 40 million borrowed barrels with additional premium barrels, ensuring immediate market supply while increasing the SPR’s long-term inventory at no cost to taxpayers,” the DOE said.
The DOE highlighted in the statement that bids for its latest solicitation are due by October 6.
“With … [this] action…, the United States continues to lead the coordinated efforts to stabilize oil markets for the benefit of Americans and people around the world,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the statement.
“While the United States and Japan are delivering on their commitments, several European member countries have released only a fraction of the crude oil and petroleum products they pledged,” he added.
“We urge every member country to fulfill its commitments. Thanks to President Trump, these exchanges will also ensure America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve continues to be refilled, while saving taxpayers more than $3 billion,” he continued.
In its statement the DOE noted that “thanks to President Trump”, it has advanced “a series of large-scale SPR exchange solicitations at record speed”.
“These actions have moved critical crude oil supplies into the market to address short-term supply disruptions and bolster energy security for the United States and its allies,” the DOE stated.
EU, G7
Rigzone contacted Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the European Commission spokesperson responsible for energy, for comment on the DOE’s statement. The spokesperson declined to comment.
In a European Commission midday press briefing held on October 2, a video of which was posted on the European Commission’s website, Itkonen said, “the European Union is ready for collective action in the context of the International Energy Agency”.
“It is their role to organize possible stock release. There was the coordination meeting of the Energy Union Task Force this morning between the Commission and our Member States, and we will now wait for the next steps,” Itkonen added.
Also in this briefing, European Commission Chief Spokesperson Paula Pinho said, “France, which is holding the G7 presidency this year and is also working with the International Energy Agency, intends to convene … as soon as possible a video conference of G7 leaders to ensure coordination of the measures that are to be taken in order to help ease the pressure on prices and to guarantee the supply of crude oil and refined products among the G7 countries and worldwide”.
“As you see, there are coordination efforts that are taking place within the EU and also beyond the EU, simply because this is a situation which affects not just the EU countries but is a situation that affects the whole of the world in terms of energy prices,” Pinho added.
Rigzone has asked the IEA for comment on Itkonen and Pinho’s statements. At the time of writing, the IEA has not responded to Rigzone.
A G7 leaders’ statement published on the websites of the European Union and the President of France later on October 2 revealed that the Leaders of the G7 had convened a virtual meeting “to address the deepening challenges to our energy security”.
“Facing unprecedented volatility in oil markets – with surging prices threatening economic stability and the well-being of our citizens – we have agreed on decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies, shield households and businesses from price shocks, and strengthen the long-term resilience of global energy systems,” the statement said.
“We will coordinate maintenance schedules across G7 refineries to prevent simultaneous capacity shutdowns and temporarily increase utilization rates where feasible. We also encourage engagement with countries holding significant refining capacities to boost global production of refined products, particularly diesel, in light of ongoing market pressures in this segment,” it added.
“The G7 requests the IEA to monitor the immediate and full implementation of the March 2026 commitments. In this regard, taking into account commitments that have already been fulfilled, we will implement our commitments with a coordinated release through the IEA of 100 million barrels to begin immediately over four months, including a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners,” it continued.
“We will convene in the context of the IEA in the coming days to discuss the possibility of additional diesel releases as necessary,” it went on to state.
In a statement posted on his X page on October 2, France President Emmanuel Macron said, “I just brought together the G7 leaders to discuss the global energy situation”.
“We agree to work in a coordinated manner to help bring down the prices of petroleum products, particularly diesel,” he added.
A statement posted on IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol’s X page on October 3 said, “at the invitation of President Emmanual Macron, under France’s G7 Presidency, I joined G7 Leaders … to discuss the global energy market situation & the severe pressures on diesel supplies”.
“I highlighted the available options in this challenging context & the IEA’s readiness to support. I thanked all the G7 Leaders for their trust,” he added.
“The IEA is resolutely committed to continuing to work closely with all our Member & partner countries to strengthen energy security,” he continued.
A statement posted on the IEA’s website on October 2 outlined that, in his remarks at the G7 meeting, Birol “underlined that the energy market impacts of the Strait of Hormuz crisis remain acute, especially in diesel markets, and the IEA’s ongoing work to support energy security”.
“He noted that around 325 million barrels of the IEA collective action announced on 11 March have so far been released, representing over 80 percent of the 400 million barrels originally pledged in the action,” that statement added, noting that “this has played a significant role in plugging the supply gap and reassuring markets in such unprecedented times”.
In a statement posted on his Truth Social page on October 2, Trump said, “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil”.
“The process will begin immediately,” he added.
How Much Oil is in the SPR?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly petroleum status report, which was released on September 30 and included data for the week ending September 25, the SPR contained 283.8 million barrels as of September 25.
This marked a 0.8 million barrel, or 0.3 percent, week on week drop, and a 122.9 million barrel, or 30.2 percent, year on year drop, the EIA’s report outlined.
Data on the EIA’s website displaying weekly U.S. ending stocks of crude oil in the SPR, which was last updated on September 30 and which spans from August 1982 to September 2026, showed that these stocks stood at 283.767 million barrels on September 25. The last time SPR stocks were below this figure was on October 22, 1982, when they came in at 283.393 million barrels, the data revealed.
The lowest figure in the EIA data was seen on August 20, 1982, the first entry in the data, when SPR stocks were shown to stand at 270.455 million barrels. The highest figure in the EIA data was seen on January 1, 2010, at 726.617 million barrels.
The current SPR level represents 39.69 percent of the authorized storage capacity of the SPR highlighted on the DOE website, which is 714 million barrels.
Participants of the recently released third quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey were asked what they believe “is the absolute minimum inventory level for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), defined as the point at which no more oil can be practically withdrawn”, the latest survey showed.
According to the survey, “the largest share of executives surveyed – 31 percent – believe the absolute minimum inventory level for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is more than 100 million barrels but not more than 150 million barrels”.
“Additionally, 21 percent of executives consider the minimum to be more than 50 million barrels but not more than 100 million barrels, while 19 percent think it is more than 250 million barrels but not more than 300 million barrels,” it added.
“Although responses varied, most were below the current SPR inventory level of 285 million barrels as of September 18,” the survey highlighted.
Rigzone has asked the DOE to confirm the absolute minimum inventory level for the SPR. At the time of writing, the DOE has not responded to Rigzone.
Global Release
In a statement posted on the DOE’s website on March 11, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright outlined that the DOE would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the SPR as part of a wider plan from the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million barrels of oil and refined products.
A release posted on the IEA’s website on the same day stated that 32 member countries of the agency unanimously agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market “to address disruptions in oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East”.
In the DOE statement, Wright said, “President Trump promised to protect America’s energy security by managing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve responsibly and this action demonstrates his commitment to that promise”.
“The United States has arranged to more than replace these strategic reserves with approximately 200 million barrels within the next year – 20 percent more barrels than will be drawn down – and at no cost to the taxpayer,” he added.
In his inaugural address, which was transcribed on the White House website on January 20, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “we will … fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top”.
In a fact sheet posted on the DOE site back in January, the energy department said it had “begun the process of refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve … after it was recklessly depleted by the Biden administration with its 180 million barrel drawdown in 2022”.
A White House fact sheet released on March 31, 2022, which highlighted that gas prices had increased by nearly a dollar per gallon, outlined that the U.S. President at the time, Joe Biden, would announce the largest release of oil reserves in history, putting one million additional barrels on the market per day on average, every day, for the next six months.
“This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up,” that fact sheet stated.
The SPR is described on the DOE website as the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil. The site highlights that it was established “primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program”.
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