(a) Establishment

The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish in the Treasury of the United States an account to be known as the “SPR Petroleum Account” (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Account”).

(b) Obligation of funds for acquisition, transportation, and injection of petroleum products into SPR

Terms Used In 42 USC 6247

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
  • petroleum product: means crude oil, residual fuel oil, or any refined petroleum product (including any natural liquid and any natural gas liquid product). See 42 USC 6202
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Reserve: means the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. See 42 USC 6232
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Energy. See 42 USC 6202
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Strategic Petroleum Reserve: means petroleum products stored in storage facilities pursuant to this part. See 42 USC 6232
  • United States: when used in the geographical sense means all of the States and the Outer Continental Shelf. See 42 USC 6202

Amounts in the Account may be obligated by the Secretary of Energy for the acquisition, transportation, and injection of petroleum products into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for test sales of petroleum products from the Reserve, and for the drawdown, sale, and delivery of petroleum products from the Reserve—

(1) Repealed. Pub. L. 106-469, title I, §103(19)(A)(ii), Nov. 9, 2000, 114 Stat. 2033;

(2) in the case of any fiscal year, subject to section 7270 of this title, in such aggregate amounts as may be appropriated in advance in appropriation Acts; and

(3) in the case of any fiscal year, notwithstanding section 7270 of this title, in an aggregate amount equal to the aggregate amount of the receipts to the United States from the sale of petroleum products in any drawdown and distribution of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under section 6241 of this title, including a drawdown and distribution carried out under subsection (g) of such section, or from the sale of petroleum products under section 6240(f) of this title.


Funds available to the Secretary of Energy for obligation under this subsection may remain available without fiscal year limitation.

(c) Provision and deposit of funds

The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide and deposit into the Account such sums as may be necessary to meet obligations of the Secretary of Energy under subsection (b).

(d) Off-budgeting procedures

The Account, the deposits and withdrawals from the Account, and the transactions, receipts, obligations, outlays associated with such deposits and withdrawals (including petroleum product purchases and related transactions), and receipts to the United States from the sale of petroleum products in any drawdown and distribution of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under section 6241 of this title, including a drawdown and distribution carried out under subsection (g) of such section, and from the sale of petroleum products under section 6240(f) of this title—

(1) shall not be included in the totals of the budget of the United States Government and shall be exempt from any general limitation imposed by statute on expenditures and net lending (budget outlays) of the United States; and

(2) shall not be deemed to be budget authority, spending authority, budget outlays, or Federal revenues for purposes of title III of Public Law 93-344, as amended [2 U.S.C. 631 et seq.].

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