"We're not going to let our oil companies get in trouble. We saved airlines. We've saved other industries," the US president declared during his afternoon briefing from the White House on April 29.
Trump said that assistance for oil companies would be coming "shortly" from the federal government.
"We're looking at our options," US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said, clarifying the aid provided to the country's oil companies would not be a bailout.
Instead, the help provided could be something similar to the storing of another "several hundred" million barrels of oil in the US' Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he noted.
The Trump administration's vow to issue a plan that intends to rebound the American oil industry comes amid a crash in oil prices, a frenzy of related company layoffs and, according to Politico, a shut down in output of around 900,000 barrels of oil per day since mid-March.
Sputnik reported on Tuesday that US oil production companies of various sizes have been delivering oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, totaling over 1.1 million barrels in April alone.
“Providing our storage for these US companies will help alleviate some of the stress on the American energy industry and its incredible workforce,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a press release earlier this month.
The US Department of Energy has recently finalized contracts allowing companies to rent around 23 million barrels of capacity within the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reported Bloomberg, citing an official.
