Energy Department to buy up to five million barrels of crude SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The U.S. Energy Department plans to buy up to five million barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a government spokeswoman confirmed to MarketWatch on Friday.
The news couldn’t have come at a better time. With crude prices down roughly 15% year to date, the government would be scooping up oil on the cheap — and it would take millions of barrels of crude oil away from a market that is been drowning in record supplies.