U.S. oil companies have started sending oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Bloomberg reports, citing a Department of Energy official. According to the official, since the start of April, some 1.1 million barrels of crude have been sent into the SPR after the federal government finalized negotiations with nine companies for leasing SPR space for them to store their crude in. The talks for the lease of 23 million barrels worth of space began earlier this month, amid fast-falling prices that tanked deep below zero on April 20. Since then, West Texas Intermediate has recovered above zero but has been unable to sustain a level of above $20 a barrel. After yesterday the United States Oil Fund said it would sell all its WTI futures contracts for June delivery within four days, WTI again slid lower, trading at $11.11 a barrel at the time of writing. Brent traded at […]