Backwardation means a market situation in which prices are progressively lower in succeeding delivery months than in earlier months.

Contango means a market situation in which prices are progressively higher in the succeeding delivery months than in earlier months.

Contract means the agreement under which DOE acquires SPR petroleum products, consisting of the solicitation, the contract form signed by both parties, the successful offer, and any subsequent modifications, including those granting requests for deferrals.

Contracting Officer means a person with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings, including entering into sales contracts on behalf of the Government. The term includes certain authorized representatives of the Contracting Officer acting within the limits of their authority as delegated by the Contracting Officer.

DEAR means the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation.

Deferral means a process whereby petroleum products scheduled for delivery to the SPR in a specific contract period is rescheduled for later delivery, outside of that period, and encompasses the future delivery of the originally scheduled quantity plus an in-kind premium.

DOE means the Department of Energy and includes any of its subsidiary offices, such as the Office of Petroleum Reserves (OPR) and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program Management Office.

Exchange means a process whereby petroleum products owned by or due to the SPR are provided to an entity or requestor in return for petroleum products of comparable quality plus a premium quantity of petroleum products (in barrels)—or another form of premium as permitted by law—delivered to the SPR in the future, or when SPR petroleum products are traded for petroleum products of a different quality preferred by DOE for operational reasons based on the relative values of the quantities traded.

FAR means the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Government means the United States Government and includes DOE as its representative.

OPR means the Office of Petroleum Reserves within DOE, whose responsibilities include the operation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Petroleum products means crude oil, residual fuel oil, or any refined product (including any natural gas liquid, and any natural gas liquid product) owned, or contracted for, by DOE and in storage in any permanent SPR facility, or temporarily stored in other storage facilities.

Premium means the additional amount of petroleum product (in barrels)—or another form of payment as permitted by law—that must be delivered to the SPR above the principal amount of petroleum product owed to SPR in the case of an exchange or a deferred contractually scheduled delivery. The premium may include a calculation based on a rate set by DOE and duration of time until the SPR receives the petroleum product.

Requestor is an entity that makes an emergency request under § 626.7(b).

Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.

Solicitation means the written request by DOE for submission of offers or quotations to DOE for the acquisition of petroleum products.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve or SPR means the reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products established by Title I, Part B, of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, 42 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.