The U.S. Energy Department issued on Thursday the terms for companies to bid on 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The department will offer sweet oil held in three of the reserve's storage sites. Companies must submit their bids by June 29, and the winning firms will have their oil delivered between August 1-31, the department said.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe)

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