US President says aims to top up US emergency oil stockpile

Trump reiterated that his administration plans to top up the nation's emergency crude oil stockpile as prices plunge.

The Department of Energy is in the process of leasing some of the roughly 77 million barrels of available space in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to US oil companies to help them deal with dearth of commercial storage as the coronavirus outbreak crushes domestic energy demand.

The administration initially wanted to purchase the crude oil directly, but Congress has yet to approve the funding.

Asked if he still wanted lawmakers to approve the funding, Trump said the space in the SPR would be filled either way.