HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. oil stocks in the strategic petroleum reserve at year-end will be at or exceeding the level that would have existed prior to massive sales two years ago, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday.

Completion of maintenance at one storage site will allow the United States to buy more oil, Granholm said at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

She also said the Biden administration's liquefied natural gas permitting pause "will be long behind us by this time next year." The pause is temporary and for study purposes only, she stressed.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar)