US Looking to Help Oil Companies by Storing More Oil?

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has stated that President Trump is working on a plan to support oil companies in crisis after the recent crash in prices. One of the steps under consideration include increasing US’s reserves of oil by millions of barrels.

However, there was no mention of where the additional purchases of oil would be stored, given that the US is said to be close to filling up its strategic reserves and running out of storage facilities to store oil in the face of weakening demand. US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) have a capacity of around 714 million barrels, of which around 636 million barrels have already been filled up so far.

Trump has also confirmed that one of his priorities amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis is to help US oil companies. He confirmed that he would unveil his plan shortly, adding, “It’s unbelievable. It’s prices that are so low, and in some cases we’re storing oil and getting paid for storage because we have a tremendous capacity for it.”