NEW YORK: Energy companies have begun taking back millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. government's emergency stockpile after renting storage in the facility to help manage a glut of crude this spring after energy demand collapsed during COVID-19 lockdowns, a Department of Energy website showed on Monday.
Since Aug. 1, the companies have taken back 2.2 million barrels of oil of the 23 million barrels they agreed to store in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, from April through June. The companies have until March 31,2021 to take back the oil after renting the space for a small fee.