HR 1914
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Gas Price Stabilization Act of 2011'.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
(1) the term `light grade petroleum' means crude oil with an API gravity
of 30 degrees or higher;
(2) the term `heavy grade petroleum' means crude oil with an API gravity
of 26 degrees or lower; and
(3) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Energy.
SEC. 3. SALE AND REPLACEMENT OF OIL FROM THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE.
(a) Initial Petroleum Sale and Replacement- Notwithstanding section 161 of
the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6241), the Secretary shall
publish a plan not later than 15 days after the date of enactment of this
Act to--
(1) sell, in the amounts and on the schedule described in subsection (b),
light grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and acquire an
equivalent volume of heavy grade petroleum;
(2) deposit the cash proceeds from sales under paragraph (1) into the SPR
Petroleum Account established under section 167 of the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6247); and
(3) from the cash proceeds deposited pursuant to paragraph (2), withdraw
the amount necessary to pay for the direct administrative and operational
costs of the sale and acquisition.
(b) Amounts and Schedule- The sale and acquisition described in subsection
(a) shall require the offer for sale of a total quantity of 70,000,000 barrels
of light grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The sale shall
commence, whether or not a plan has been published under subsection (a), not
later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act and be completed
no more than six months after the date of enactment of this Act, with at least
20,000,000 barrels to be offered for sale within the first 60 days after the
date of enactment of this Act. In no event shall the Secretary sell barrels
of oil under subsection (a) that would result in a Strategic Petroleum Reserve
that contains fewer than 90 percent of the total amount of barrels in the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve as of the date of enactment of this Act. Heavy
grade petroleum, to replace the quantities of light grade petroleum sold under
this section, shall be obtained through acquisitions which--
(1) shall commence no sooner than 6 months after the date of enactment of
this Act;
(2) shall be completed, at the discretion of the Secretary, not later than
5 years after the date of enactment of this Act;
(3) shall be carried out in a manner so as to maximize the monetary value
to the Federal Government; and
(4) shall be acquired using the receipts from the sale of light petroleum
authorized under this section.
(c) Deferrals- The Secretary is encouraged to, when economically beneficial
and practical, grant requests to defer scheduled deliveries of petroleum to
the Reserve under subsection (a) if the deferral will result in a premium
paid in additional barrels of oil which will reduce the cost of oil acquisition
and increase the volume of oil delivered to the Reserve or yield additional
cash bonuses.
END
