WASHINGTON—The U.S. Energy Department said on April 14 it is negotiating contracts with nine energy companies to store about 23 MMbbl of domestically produced oil in the country’s emergency reserve to help relieve the supply glut.

The department is renting space to companies in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, as a way to help companies suffering from the oil price plunge and after Congress failed to fund another plan to purchase oil for the facility.

Global oil producers reached a deal over the weekend to cut crude output after prices fell to 18-year lows as demand crumbled on the coronavirus outbreak and as Saudi Arabia and Russia produced crude flat out in a race for market share.

President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Energy, or DOE, in March to fill the reserve, which has the capacity for another 77 million barrels, “to the top.”

The DOE continues to work with Congress on finding ways to fund a purchase of oil for the reserve and could initiate more plans to lease space in the facility.

“Providing our storage for these U.S. companies will help alleviate some of the stress on the American energy industry and its incredible workforce,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a release.

The DOE said most of the deliveries will be received in May and June, with some possible shipments in April.

Companies storing oil will be allowed to keep it in the SPR through March 2021 and will pay a small amount of oil to cover the SPR’s cost of storage, the department said.