House Energy Action Team co-chairs Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) joined House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) to applaud President Trump’s action to make 30 million barrels of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s oil storage capacity available to struggling U.S. oil producers.
“We applaud President Trump for announcing today that his Administration will take decisive action to make part of the SPR’s storage capacity available to struggling U.S. oil producers,” said Whip Scalise. “This decision will help strengthen American energy security and American energy producers. The efforts of Saudi Arabia and Russia to manipulate global oil markets, combined now with the COVID-19 crisis, has caused unprecedented disruptions and financial hardship to U.S. energy producers, their employees, and other workers who depend on energy exploration and production activities.”
“Between COVID-19 and foreign actors intentionally disrupting the market, oil prices have plummeted and demand has dramatically decreased. Our oil producers and the communities they support are hurting,” said Rep. Mullin. “Filling the SPR to capacity with American oil is the right thing to do not only to help our producers during this crisis, but also to protect our national security. I applaud President Trump for taking this action that will bring much-needed relief to the industry and the thousands of jobs it supports.”
“Our nation and world are experiencing unprecedented times as we combat the coronavirus,” said Rep. Duncan. “In addition to the already constrained market, Russia and Saudi Arabia are flooding the market, dropping prices to a level designed to undercut American producers, the entrepreneurs behind the American Energy Renaissance. By filling the SPR with oil from American producers, we are rightfully putting energy and national security first while supporting an industry that maintains our dominance around the world.”