US President pledges to rescue oil industry

By Syed Sajid Aziz in USA
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The United States (US) President, Donald Trump, has pledged to rescue the oil industry which was rocked on April 20 as the prices went negative for the first time in history. 

“We will never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down. I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!” Trump tweeted on April 21. 

The US President didn’t furnish details, however, only saying that he had advised members of his administration to make funds available to companies. 

“We are taking very aggressive but appropriate steps to help the industry. The administration is working to ensure that oil and gas companies can access lending programs created by the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue plan, including those meant for medium-sized businesses and the Federal Reserve facility,” Energy Secretary, Dan Brouillette, revealed in a television interview. 

“The market is ruthlessly efficient at weeding out high-cost producers. The demand curve has moved so quickly in a downward fashion, the production is simply not able to keep up with it,” he added. 

In the meantime, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures had plunged below zero for the first time ever on April 20 and the sector has hemorrhaged an estimated 51,000 drilling and refining jobs in March, according to BW Research Partnership, a research consultancy which also warned that the industry’s job losses could reach as high as 30% or more in the first quarter of 2020.