US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, announced that United States might halt Saudi oil imports.
The announcement comes as United States benchmark crude prices observed a sudden and sharp fall into negative territory to minus-$37.63 per barrel. The possible suspension of Saudi oil imports will assist domestic oil production industry which has been severely affected by COVID-19 lockdown and the resulting fall in fuel demand.
Expressing his views on the oil market crisis President Donald Trump stated, “We certainly have plenty of oil, so I’ll take a look at it.”
“The problem is no one is driving a car anywhere in the world, essentially, factories are closed, businesses are closed. We had really a lot of energy to start off with, oil in particular, and then all of a sudden they lost 40%, 50% of their market,” he added.
Mr President highlighted the fact that OPEC has agreed to cut oil production by 15 million barrels per day, and fall in oil prices could further contribute to economic downfall.
The US Department of Energy, has decided to lease the 77 million barrels capacity of Strategic Petroleum Reserve to domestic oil companies to help them in addressing storage issues amid such unprecedented fall in demand.
US Senator Kevin Cramer, on Monday, had appealed to President Trump to stop Saudi oil flooding the local market.
“We cannot allow Saudi Arabia to flood the market, especially given our storage capacity dwindling. Right now, the highest number of Saudi oil tankers in years is on its way to our shores,” he exclaimed.
