I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2908 

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 

JUNE 17, 2009 

Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mr. 

WELCH) 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 ‘‘Enhanced Supply and 

5 Price Reduction Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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

2 crude oil with an API gravity of 30 degrees or high3 er; 

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

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

6 and 

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

8 of Energy. 

9 SEC. 3. SALE AND REPLACEMENT OF OIL FROM THE STRA10 TEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE. 

11 (a) INITIAL PETROLEUM SALE AND REPLACE12 MENT.—Notwithstanding section 161 of the Energy Policy 

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

14 shall publish a plan not later than 30 days after the date 

15 of enactment of this Act to— 

16 (1) sell, in the amounts and on the schedule de17 scribed in subsection (b), light grade petroleum from 

18 the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and acquire an 

19 equivalent volume of heavy grade petroleum or re20 fined petroleum product; 

21 (2) deposit the cash proceeds from sales under 

22 paragraph (1) into the SPR Petroleum Account es23 tablished under section 167 of the Energy Policy 

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


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1 (3) from the cash proceeds deposited pursuant 

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

3 pay for the direct administrative and operational 

4 costs of the sale and acquisition. 

5 (b) AMOUNTS AND SCHEDULE.—The sale and acqui6 sition described in subsection (a) shall require the offer 

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

8 grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

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

10 published under subsection (a), not later than 180 days 

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

12 no more than 3 years after the date of enactment of this 

13 Act. In no event shall the Secretary sell barrels of oil 

14 under subsection (a) that would result in a Strategic Pe15 troleum Reserve that contains fewer than 90 percent of 

16 the total amount of barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Re17 serve as of the date of enactment of this Act. Heavy grade 

18 petroleum, to replace the quantities of light grade petro19 leum sold under this section, shall be obtained through 

20 acquisitions which— 

21 (1) 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 (2) shall be carried out in a manner so as to 

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

4 (3) shall be acquired using the receipts from 

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

7 (c) DOLLAR COST AVERAGING.—To decrease the cost 

8 and improve the efficiency of filling the Strategic Petro9 leum Reserve, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 

10 practicable, purchase, exchange, or otherwise acquire 

11 crude oil for the Reserve on a dollar cost averaging basis. 

12 For purposes of this subsection, dollar cost averaging 

13 means an acquisition goal for each fiscal year of a con14 stant monthly dollar value of petroleum. 

15 (d) DEFERRALS.—The Secretary is encouraged to, 

16 when economically beneficial and practical, grant requests 

17 to defer scheduled deliveries of petroleum to the Reserve 

18 under subsection (a) if the deferral will result in a pre19 mium paid in additional barrels of oil which will reduce 

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

21 delivered to the Reserve or yield additional cash bonuses. 

22 (e) REFINED PRODUCTS RESERVE.—The Secretary 

23 may, as appropriate to enhance the national security, ac24 quire, and place in a Strategic Refined Products Reserve 

25 established for that purpose within the Strategic PetroVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:36 Jun 18, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2908.IH H2908

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1 leum Reserve, refined petroleum product, including motor 

2 gasoline and diesel fuel, to replace quantities of light grade 

3 petroleum sold under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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