US to start buying oil for emergency reserve within two weeks

WASHINGTON: The US is preparing to start buying as much as 77 million barrels of oil for its emergency stockpiles within the next two weeks, an effort by President Donald Trump to support the domestic industry and boost reserves at cheap prices.

While purchases of U.S. crude may begin swiftly, deliveries into the four sites that make up the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve could take months to complete, a senior Energy Department official said Sunday, asking not to be named before formal announcements. Pipeline and port capacity constraints could figure into the timing, the official said.