The
bill, which would have to be passed in the Senate and the House
of Representatives and signed by President Donald Trump, was
introduced by Senator John Hoeven and Representative Michael
Burgess, both Republicans, and Representative Lizzie Fletcher, a
Democrat. Representative Henry Cuellar, also a Democrat, is a
cosponsor.
The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, last month ditched an
original tender to buy 30 million barrels of oil for the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve after Congress failed to include
funding in a stimulus bill meant to help the economy deal with
the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
That move was a blow to Trump, who on March 13 had directed the
DOE to fill the reserve, which can take another 77 million
barrels of oil, "to the top." Even if a purchase is authorized,
analysts said it would not do much to push up the global oil
price and help crude producers due to the severe demand
destruction as the coronavirus cripples economies.
The DOE now plans to lease space in the SPR, a series of salt
caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts, but the department
said on Tuesday it continues to work with Congress on funding
for the purchase of oil for the reserve.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Leslie Adler)
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