'India can and should store oil in huge quantities like US,' says Swamy; opines on Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he is planning to add as much as 75 million barrels of oil to the nation's strategic petroleum reserve as the oil prices crashed due to the coronavirus pandemic. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy responding to Trump's move said that the US President has "outsmarted all his opponents" by doing his daily media conference and "confusing everybody."

'Needs organising- that is all'

Taking to Twitter, the BJP leader added, "Despite being a friend of Saudis, for example, he has impoverished them by pricing oil at declining rate to zero. He has China in a tizzy!".  One user asked Dr Swamy whether India has the capacity to store oil in such huge quantities in India to which the latter replied, "We can and should. Storing for the future is a Hindu habit. Needs organising-that is all." 

Trump also said that his administration will look into halting oil imports from Saudi Arabia after oil prices in the United States plummeted into negative. "We'll look at it," Trump said when asked if the US will block Saudi oil shipments into the United States after prices went negative earlier in the day.

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United States oil prices plunged to negative for the first time in history as the demand for energy collapsed in the backdrop of Coronavirus pandemic. With space to store oil scarce, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery crashed 300% on Monday and ended trading at -$37.63 a barrel.

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Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, is trading around USD 26 a barrel, having plummeted by as much as 70% since the start of January as coronavirus lockdowns have destroyed global demand in crude, according to media reports.

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(With agency inputs)