Trump Strikes Oil After Russia Moves to ‘Cripple’ US Shale

Putin’s tit-for-tat may torpedo ‘US Energy Dominance’ narrative

130711Fracking_in_PennsylvaniaJSmith_4373-700x420

3/13/20 – (Epoch Times) At a press conference in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, President Trump stated that his administration would orchestrate the purchase of large quantities of crude oil to help the struggling U.S. oil industry and build up strategic national reserves.

“Based on the price of oil, I’ve also instructed the Secretary of Energy to purchase, at a very good price, large quantities of crude oil for storage in the U.S. Strategic Reserve,” said Trump. “We’re going to fill it right up to the top, saving the American taxpayer billions and billions of dollars, helping our oil industry and making us even further toward that wonderful goal which we’ve achieved, which nobody thought was possible, of energy independence. It puts us in a position that’s very strong, and we’re buying it at the right price. And that’s something that would have not even been possible a week ago. The price of oil went down quite a bit. So we’re going to fill it up. It’s a good time to fill it up.”

Our economy and workforce is more resilient than ever before, and we will bounce back. To provide relief, @POTUS has directed me to use the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to purchase American crude oil for storage. pic.twitter.com/kFgA33PfzL

— Dan Brouillette (@SecBrouillette) March 13, 2020

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette subsequently tweeted that “The Strategic Reserve has the capacity to store up to 77 million additional barrels of crude oil, which will provide needed relief and confidence to global oil markets.” With benchmark Brent crude coming in at just over $33 per barrel in Friday trading, the administration’s measure would have a price tag of over $2.5 billion…

CONTINUE READING AT EPOCH TIMES