(Reuters) – The United States on Thursday said nine companies will buy 20 million barrels of oil in the latest sale from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to ease petroleum prices elevated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and thin global spare capacity to boost output.
The administration said in March it would release a record 1 million barrels of crude per day from May to October, or about 180 million barrels, from the SPR, which holds oil in caverns on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Beech)