The US Department of Energy announced the purchase of 3 million barrels of crude oil to strengthen the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, at an average price of 77.69 dollars per barrel.

This purchase comes at a time when oil prices are declining amid markets’ anticipation of US crude inventories data and expectations that borrowing costs will remain high for a longer period.

Data from the US Energy Information Administration showed a decrease in crude oil inventories in the United States last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories increased; crude oil inventories decreased by 4.2 million barrels to 454.7 million barrels, and caching inventories decreased by 1.8 million barrels.