The U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday it will buy an initial 30 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an initial step to fulfill President Donald Trump’s directive to fill the reserve to help domestic crude producers, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.
The reserve, held in caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts, has the capacity for an additional 77 million barrels. The solicitation for the first 30 million barrels will be for both sweet and sour crude oil and is focused on buying from small and midsize producers, the Energy Department said.