Trump wants to use oil crash to fill national stockpile

President Donald Trump said Monday the United States would take advantage of the historic drop in oil prices to replenish its national strategic stockpile, pending approval by Congress.

“We are filling up our national petroleum reserves… You know, the strategic reserves,” Trump told reporters at his daily coronavirus press conference.

“And we are looking to put as much as 75 million barrels into the reserves themselves,” he added.

Later in the briefing, he specified that he would only buy that amount if Congress authorized the funding — or if the federal government could rent storage space to third parties for a fee.