National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $4.761; Month Ago: $4.204; Year Ago: $3.042. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $5.581; Month Ago: $5.370; Year Ago: $3.186.

Six companies bought 14 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a sale required by law to help fund medical research and the federal government, said the Department of Energy on Thursday. BP Oil Supply, Exxon Mobil Corp, Phillips 66, Shell Trading, Valero Marketing and Supply Company, and Macquarie Commodities Trading bought oil from the reserve, which is held in salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. The companies bought the oil at a range from $46.98 to $47.91 a barrel, slightly below the current futures price of about $49.70 per barrel, depending on which location the crude came from and whether it was sent by pipeline or directly to vessels, which could export the petroleum.

Crude oil futures steadied on Monday, supported by a rebound in stock markets and escalating Saudi-Iran tensions. Global stocks came off six-week lows on optimism that the United States and China are set to begin trade talks, easing fears about a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The possibility of a full-blown trade war had weighed on the energy complex on fears that it could harm oil demand. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 9 cents at $70.54 a barrel at 1206 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 eased 5 cents to $65.83.