The US could lend additional crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as higher prices and tight near-term supplies increase demand for prompt barrels, Energy Secretary Chris Wright says, Anadolu reports citing energy-market information provider Argus Media.

The recent rise in crude prices has made another round of loans a “very real possibility” under the continuing 172-million-barrel drawdown authorised by President Donald Trump in March, Wright tells reporters.

“The market right now is saying, ‘Hey, maybe we need that oil.’ So quite possibly we will respond to that,” he adds.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude was trading near $101 per barrel, about 25 per cent above the price of crude for delivery six months later. The structure, known as backwardation, occurs when near-term crude prices exceed those for later delivery and can make borrowing oil from the reserve commercially attractive.

The energy department has already lent more than 130m barrels, or over three-quarters of the authorised drawdown. Another 3m barrels are scheduled for release in the coming weeks, while about 38.5m barrels remain unallocated.

“We had stopped selling because the prices were flat,” Wright says. “The market today is pulling for it. If that remains, then it’s very possible we will finish the allocation of oil we originally agreed to trade.”