I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1914 

To provide for the sale of light grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum 

Reserve and its replacement with heavy grade petroleum. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 13, 2011 

Mr. CUELLAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for the sale of light grade petroleum from the 

Strategic Petroleum Reserve and its replacement with 

heavy grade petroleum. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gas Price Stabilization 

5 Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘light grade petroleum’’ means 

9 crude oil with an API gravity of 30 degrees or high10 er; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘heavy grade petroleum’’ means 

2 crude oil with an API gravity of 26 degrees or lower; 

3 and 

4 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

5 of Energy. 

6 SEC. 3. SALE AND REPLACEMENT OF OIL FROM THE STRA7 TEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE. 

8 (a) INITIAL PETROLEUM SALE AND REPLACE9 MENT.—Notwithstanding section 161 of the Energy Policy 

10 and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6241), the Secretary 

11 shall publish a plan not later than 15 days after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act to— 

13 (1) sell, in the amounts and on the schedule de14 scribed in subsection (b), light grade petroleum from 

15 the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and acquire an 

16 equivalent volume of heavy grade petroleum; 

17 (2) deposit the cash proceeds from sales under 

18 paragraph (1) into the SPR Petroleum Account es19 tablished under section 167 of the Energy Policy 

20 and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6247); and 

21 (3) from the cash proceeds deposited pursuant 

22 to paragraph (2), withdraw the amount necessary to 

23 pay for the direct administrative and operational 

24 costs of the sale and acquisition. 


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1 (b) AMOUNTS AND SCHEDULE.—The sale and acqui2 sition described in subsection (a) shall require the offer 

3 for sale of a total quantity of 70,000,000 barrels of light 

4 grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

5 The sale shall commence, whether or not a plan has been 

6 published under subsection (a), not later than 30 days 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act and be completed 

8 no more than six months after the date of enactment of 

9 this Act, with at least 20,000,000 barrels to be offered 

10 for sale within the first 60 days after the date of enact11 ment of this Act. In no event shall the Secretary sell bar12 rels of oil under subsection (a) that would result in a Stra13 tegic Petroleum Reserve that contains fewer than 90 per14 cent of the total amount of barrels in the Strategic Petro15 leum Reserve as of the date of enactment of this Act. 

16 Heavy grade petroleum, to replace the quantities of light 

17 grade petroleum sold under this section, shall be obtained 

18 through acquisitions which— 

19 (1) shall commence no sooner than 6 months 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act; 

21 (2) shall be completed, at the discretion of the 

22 Secretary, not later than 5 years after the date of 

23 enactment of this Act; 


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1 (3) shall be carried out in a manner so as to 

2 maximize the monetary value to the Federal Govern3 ment; and 

4 (4) shall be acquired using the receipts from 

5 the sale of light petroleum authorized under this sec6 tion. 

7 (c) DEFERRALS.—The Secretary is encouraged to, 

8 when economically beneficial and practical, grant requests 

9 to defer scheduled deliveries of petroleum to the Reserve 

10 under subsection (a) if the deferral will result in a pre11 mium paid in additional barrels of oil which will reduce 

12 the cost of oil acquisition and increase the volume of oil 

13 delivered to the Reserve or yield additional cash bonuses. 

Æ 


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