The Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s (SPR) oil is sold competitively when the President of the United States of America finds, pursuant to the conditions set forth in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), that a sale is required. In the past, oil resources were withdrawn from the SPR to meet domestic oil requirements – such as Emergency Drawdowns, Non-Emergency Sales, SPR Modernization Sales, and Mandated Sales. In March 2022, such orders were issued by the President of the United States, Joe Biden. President Biden has decided to open the SPR to mitigate the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that led the United States and its allies to put harsh economic sanctions on Russia. Consequently, these sanctions, and not unexpectedly, tight oil and gas supply in the international market has raised international energy prices. There are two factors that simultaneously occurred and accelerated the withdrawals from the SPR from March […]