Trump Plans To Shore Up Strategic Oil Reserves With 75 Million Barrels As WTI Crude Price Trades In Negative

With the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices crashing hard by more than 300 per cent to -$37.63 a barrel, the United States (US) President Donald Trump has announced plans to add as much as 75 million barrels of oil to nation's strategic petroleum reserve, reports Asian News International (ANI).

The plan to shore up the strategic petroleum reserves comes as a relief for the US-based oil producers at a time when the global demand for oil has been spooked. The announcement was made by President Trump during his daily press briefing.

It should be noted that this marks the first such instance that the price of oil has hovered in the negative territory in history, given the demand for energy commodities has collapsed in the wake of the COVID-19 induced global crisis, lockdowns and halting of economic activity.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that while WTI crude has hit a nadir of -$37.64 a barrel, Brent crude, which is the global benchmark for oil trade is trading at around $26 a barrel. Even Brent crude has crashed by more than 70 per cent since January.