- Trump pledged federal aid for the
oil and gas industry a day after a historic sell-off that threwoil prices into negative territory. - "We will never let the great US oil and gas industry down," he wrote in a tweet.
- Details of the plan were not immediately clear, though the president previously promised the federal government would help revive the embattled sector.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
President Trump ordered his administration on Tuesday to provide an emergency lifeline to oil companies hammered by historically low prices as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We will never let the great US oil and gas industry down," he wrote in a tweet.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
"I have instructed the Secretary of
The White House, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It's not yet clear where the funding for the plan would come from. Bharat Ramamurti, a member of the Congressional Oversight Committee tasked with policing a $500 billion corporate bailout fund, said on Twitter the panel should "scrutinize the plan very carefully" if federal funding was drawn from that pot of money.
The move from Trump comes a day after a historic sell-off that threw oil trading into negative territory, meaning oil sellers had to pay someone to store it for them. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude fell to around -$40 on Monday, though it closed Friday around $18 a barrel.
The president renewed efforts on Monday for the federal government to purchase around 75 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the national stockpile designed to ensure the nation has enough fuel in case of a 1970s-style oil shock.
"We're going to either ask for permission to buy it, or we'll store it," Trump said at a White House press conference.
Several oil companies have already approached the White House to request direct financial aid as they struggle to secure storage tank space amid a collapse in oil demand during the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Trump pledged the federal government would be a key player helping to revive the embattled sector, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"The entire world is shut down trying to get rid of this scourge," the president said. "We'll work this out and we'll get our energy business back."
The Washington Post reported last month that the administration was weighing low-interest government loans to oil and natural gas producers. They fear the companies would be driven out of business without federal aid.
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