White House: We Didn’t Mess up Refilling SPR, There’s Still ‘Significant Amount’ in It

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Sound On,” White House Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein stated that the Biden administration didn’t miss an opportunity to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) when oil prices were lower because they purchased some oil and there’s still “a significant amount” in the reserve.

Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 42:50] “Did you miss an opportunity to refill the SPR while prices were, say, in the 60s, or were your hands tied by the bidding process?”

Hochstein responded, “I don’t think we missed an opportunity. The president said, very clearly, that when prices came down to the lower 70s, we would be opportunistic and buy oil on the market in order to refill the SPR, which is a strategic asset. We did that. And, in fact, we made a number of purchases during that time when prices were lower. We will continue to take that approach, that when prices are right, we will continue to purchase crude and make sure that we refill the SPR. The SPR still has a significant amount of resource[s] in it, which we need for emergencies. But we are in a position of buying in as soon as we can.”

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