The US extended the delivery window on its sale Friday of 5 million barrels of Strategic Petroleum Reserve sour crude to May 10 from the original April 1-30, according to an amendment to the sale posted on the SPR website.
A second amendment noted Friday that Hawaii has preferential treatment for up to 150,000 barrels of the SPR crude on offer.
DOE, which manages the SPR, said Hawaii, home to two refineries with a total capacity of 148,000 b/d, is entitled to submit a binding offer for up to 3% of the crude on offer, according to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
Hawaii, heavily dependent on imported oil, is the only state with guaranteed access to SPR crude when there is a drawdown.
The price Hawaii will pay for the crude is "equal to the volumetrically weighted average of the successful bids" that the DOE receives in its sale, according to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
It was unclear whether Hawaii was actually making a bid for the crude. The state is home to refineries owned by Chevron (54,000 b/d) and Par Petroleum (94,000 b/d).
Officials in Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie's office could not immediately be reached for comment
In December, Chevron imported 1.859 million barrels of crude into Honolulu, Hawaii, from Gabon, Indonesia and Thailand, according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration.
DOE said Wednesday that the Friday sale would test how the reserve would be able to distribute oil in the event of an emergency.
The agency said it will inform all successful and unsuccessful bidders within a week of today's bid deadline.
Of the crude being offered, 4 million barrels will come from the SPR's West Hackberry site in Louisiana, and 1 million barrels will come from the Big Hill site in Texas.
