US Suspends Sale of Crude Oil From Strategic Reserves

The remarks come after the DOE said in a statement on Tuesday that the planned sale was aimed at raising “revenue for SPR facility maintenance and upgrades”.

“Given current oil markets, this is not the optimal time for the sale. The Department continually monitors and evaluates global oil markets and will provide updated information as market conditions change”, the statement said.

Largest oil trade group lobbies in White House meeting against ‘policy relief’ for price crash

“We are not advocating for any form of policy relief at this time,” said Bethany Aronhalt, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, who confirmed the meeting to the Washington Examiner. “Our focus is on ensuring the free market works.”

Oil lobbyists met with White House staffers to discuss markets amid OPEC price war, coronavirus

Still, the American Petroleum Institute, which represents companies including Halliburton, Hess and Occidental Petroleum, is not seeking federal aid, said the the spokeswoman, Bethany Aronhalt. That statement comes despite reports Tuesday indicating President Donald Trump was considering a federal aid package for the shale industry, potentially in the form of low-interest loans. An official told CNBC that the White House doesn’t want the potential assistance to be perceived as a bailout.

White House declined to comment.

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Note the upload date:  02/21/2020!

02.03.2020: Democrats’ Fracking War Heats Up As 2020 Voting Begins

The debate comes at a vulnerable moment for the industry as low gas prices, falling costs of renewable energy sources and mounting worries about climate change are starting to spook investors ― a once-unthinkable reality that came to a head last week when CNBC commentator Jim Cramer declared: “I’m done with fossil fuels. They’re done. They’re just done.”

02.12.2020: Ocasio-Cortez introduces national fracking ban

American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman Bethany Aronhalt told The Hill in a statement last month that a ban could produce an increase in household energy costs.

“Banning a safe, successful method of developing energy would erase a generation of American energy progress and in the process destroy millions of U.S. jobs, spike household energy costs and hurt farmers and manufacturers,” she said after the Senate bill was first announced.