Donald Trump pledges to 'never let oil industry down' as prices plunge

As the plunging oil prices in the United States sent shock waves around the world, US President Donald Trump has pledged on April 21 that his government “will never let the industry down”. Trump took to Twitter to inform that he has asked the Secretary of Energy and the US Treasury Department to put together a strategy to make funds available for the struggling industry amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

For the first time in history, the price of US benchmark crude to be delivered in May plunged as low as -$37.63 while the storage capacity reached its maximum limits, implying that sellers are now giving money to the buyers to take the commodity from them. Even though the prices jumped back to $1.10 for a barrel in a matter of a few hours, the global crude oil prices still remain at an all-time low.

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Plan to re-open US

While the Oil and Gas Industry of the US received a "historic" blow of coronavirus impact, in the belief that the coronavirus outbreak has “passed the peak”, Trump has announced a three-phase plan to re-open America for “rejuvenation of economy” on April 17. Giving most control over the decision to the state governors, Trump administration has chosen to shelter more vulnerable individuals from the risk of contracting COVID-19 disease, instead of continuing the "blanket shutdown". The White House has released the entire plan in three phases based on state or regional “gating criteria”. 

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