The US plans to take advantage of low oil prices amid the ongoing situation with COVID-19, in order to fill the nation’s emergency crude oil reserve, the US President Donald Trump announced.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump informed he has instructed the secretary of energy to purchase, “at a very good price”, large quantities of crude oil for storage in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
We’re going to fill it right up to the top,
…he noted.
This move aims to help energy producers struggling from the price plunge reported amid the global COVID-19 outbreak, according to Reuters.
Namely, oil prices marked the worst week in more than a decade, collapsing to about $31 a barrel amid shortages to both supply and demand.
Following the announcement, the Secretary of Energy applauded the move and issued a memo to Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg “to immediately initiate an expedited process for this purchase of crude oil owned and produced in the United States”.
The Department is currently working to develop a solicitation for the purchase of oil, which we will issue as soon as possible,
…a statement from the Department reads.
