Trump To Sell Half The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

OilPrice.com ------ In a release of part of the draft budget for fiscal 2018, the Trump administration has proposed halving the strategic petroleum reserve, which will raise some US$500 million during the fiscal year and US$16.6 billion over the next ten years, according to Bloomberg. Among the other measures aimed at increasing budget revenues from the oil and gas industry is stopping oil royalty payments for the Gulf of Mexico states, opening up the Alaska national Wildlife Refuge for drillers, and selling power transmission lines in the West. As Bloomberg notes, most of these are likely to face opposition in Congress. The proposed oil sales from the strategic reserve will add to already approved sales of 190 million barrels of crude, to take place between this year and 2025. These sales were passed by the previous presidential administration in 2015 and 2016. The strategic reserve currently holds 687.7 million barrels. According to Bloomberg, halving the reserve will violate the minimum threshold requirement, which is 450 million barrels of oil. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.