Four companies have been selected as winning bidders for 8.5 million bbl of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Energy Department said Friday.

The awards are from the second round of bidding for what is expected to be the release of a total of 172 million bbl from the stockpile in coming weeks.

The latest round saw four companies awarded contracts. Phillips 66 will receive 2.9 million bbl, Trafigura Trading 2.48 million bbl, Macquarie Commodities Trading US 2 million bbl and Gunvor USA LLC 1.1 million bbl.

The oil is being released through a return-exchange program, under which oil is loaned to companies that will return it by next year, along with additional barrels as a premium for the exchange. The DOE award announcement didn't include information about the premium called for in the contracts and DOE didn't respond to an inquiry Friday.

The oil in the latest release will come from the reserve's Bryan Mound, Texas, site.

The previous round of the return exchange involved 45.22 million bbl.

On Thursday, DOE solicited bids for a third exchange return of 30 million bbl from the reserve's site in West Hackberry, La. Bids for that release are due by 11 a.m. CDT Monday.

The SPR release is part of a coordinated effort by member nations of the International Energy Agency. The releases are to alleviate supply disruptions caused by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following attacks by the U.S. and Israel that began Feb. 28. The U.S. release is less than half the 400 million bbl planned to be removed from global strategic stockpiles during the program.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

-- Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2026 17:06 ET (21:06 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.