US to buy up to 1 mln bbls of oil for emergency reserve
The U.S. Energy Department said on Wednesday it will buy up to 1 million barrels of sweet crude for the government’s emergency petroleum reserve as part an effort to help producers struggling as the coronavirus strangles oil demand.
The move came after the department canceled an initial plan to buy up to 30 million barrels for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, after Congress failed to fund it as some lawmakers complained it would help oil companies during the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette in March to fill the SPR to the top, and the department tried to find funding to purchase a total of 77 million barrels, which would have brought the reserve to its capacity of about 714 million barrels.
