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Apr 30, 2020 - Energy & Environment

The White House's brewing oil sector help

Ben Geman
Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a Tuesday conference call that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is considering loans and emergency lending through the Federal Reserve for small- and medium-sized oil producers, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: The collapse in oil prices as the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand is creating financial jeopardy for many independent companies and industry layoffs are mounting.

  • But a number of Democrats and environmentalists oppose propping up the sector.

What's next: President Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday that the plan would be announced "shortly." Bloomberg reports that Brouillette and Mnuchin have already briefed Trump on it.

Threat level: The latest sign of jeopardy for U.S. producers, many of whom were already struggling before the crash, comes via Reuters.

  • "Chesapeake Energy Corp, the oil and gas exploration and production company that was at the forefront of the past decade’s U.S. shale boom, is preparing a potential bankruptcy filing as it grapples with an unprecedented rout in energy prices," Reuters reports.
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