The administration of US President Donald Trump wants to put on the market a state reserve of diesel fuel with a volume of 1 million barrels, claiming that the reserve, intended to provide emergency supplies of fuel oil for households in the northeast, was never used for its intended purpose. This is reported by Bloomberg, reports UNN.
Details
According to recently released details of the budget plan from the US Department of Energy, the sale and closure of the Northeast Reserve of fuel oil and diesel fuel for heating homes will generate $100 million, which will be used to reduce the US Treasury deficit.
The sale of the reserve will require Congressional approval. Last year, Congress gave the Biden administration the green light to sell and close the emergency gasoline reserve of 1 million barrels.
Diesel futures rose as much as 3.5% on Monday, amid rising oil prices. As of 10:46 a.m. in New York, diesel fuel has risen in price by 1.9%.
1 million barrels of diesel fuel is approximately a quarter of the total daily demand for this type of fuel in the United States. Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration reported that about 4% of the country's households use fuel oil to heat their homes.
According to the Department of Energy, the diesel fuel reserve, which is stored in commercial storage facilities in the northeast, was used after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to provide fuel to rescuers in New York and New Jersey, as well as after snowstorms that same year. It hasn't been touched since.
Created during the time of the 42nd US President Bill Clinton, the reserve is designed to provide household consumers in the northeastern United States with a 10-day supply, the time it takes for ships to transport additional fuel oil from the Gulf of Mexico to the port of New York, the Department of Energy reports.