Phillips 66’s Lake Charles refinery in Louisiana, which processes approximately 264,000 barrels of crude oil a day, is to receive up to 400,000 barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve under an emergency exchange authorised by the Department of Energy.
The crude will come from the West Hackberry storage facility in Louisiana, where oil from the reserve is held. The department said the supply was intended to offset temporary disruption affecting the refinery and support transport fuel production in Louisiana and neighbouring markets.
Phillips 66 confirmed that it would receive the oil. A company spokesperson said it did not anticipate any operational impacts, while the company declined to discuss the cause of the delivery disruption or its refinery operations.
The arrangement is a loan rather than a sale. Phillips 66 will have to return the borrowed crude, along with extra volumes as a premium.
The release comes after a year in which the reserve has been used repeatedly while global oil supply routes have been under pressure. On 28 February 2026, military action among the United States, Israel and Iran shut down most tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a passage that normally carries roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.
Brent crude opened the year near $61 a barrel, passed $100 on 12 March and closed the quarter at $118 per barrel.
A 32-member-nation release coordinated by the International Energy Agency authorised 400 million barrels of oil and refined products, the largest joint stock release authorised by the agency. The United States committed 172 million barrels.
Brent crude was trading at $117.04 per barrel, up 3.42%, while West Texas Intermediate rose 4.07% to $103.52. Middle Eastern supply routes remain constrained, keeping crude prices above $100.
The strategic reserve held 284.6 million barrels in the week ending 18 September 2026, its lowest level since November 1982.
The Biden administration previously drew on the reserve after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, releasing 180 million barrels in 2022.
On 10 October, the Department of Energy also authorised up to 4 million barrels in emergency exchanges for ExxonMobil and BP after weather-related supply disruptions.
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