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US Bans SPR Sales to China

OIL

The US Senate passed an amendment to an annual defense bill on Thursday that would ban exports to China of oil from the SPR in a bid to “protect national security” according to Senators Joe Manchin and Ted Cruz.

  • Last year, the US released 180mn bbls from the SPR to quell rising prices which saw the reserve fall to the lowest in 40 years.
  • Last July, in a sale of 39 million barrels from the SPR that was part of the 180 mn bbl release, 1 million barrels went to UNIPEC America, a Houston-based arm of China's Sinopec. In 2017, under former President Donald Trump, some SPR oil was sold to PetroChina International, a subsidiary of Chinese state oil company PetroChina.
  • Looking aside from SPR sales, normal crude exports from the US to China have surged this year.

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