U.S. Weighs Borrowing Oil From Stockpile
Thursday September 23, 2004 4:46 PM
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration said Thursday it is weighing a request from several U.S. refiners to borrow crude oil from the nation's emergency stockpile to help offset supply disruptions along the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Ivan.
``Certainly Hurricane Ivan had an effect on the supply of oil imports and production in the Gulf of Mexico,'' said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. ``It has limited some refiners' access to crude oil supplies.''
He said that the Department of Energy was reviewing the requests.
In the past, President Bush has resisted calls to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, located in Texas and Louisiana, in an effort to counter soaring prices. Bush had criticized President Clinton's move in the fall of 2000 to tap the reserve, saying it was a political effort to help Democrat Al Gore, Bush's opponent in the 2000 election.
``We've always said the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was set up to protect against physical disruptions of oil supplies such as national emergencies or natural disasters, and not to manipulate prices or for political purposes,'' McClellan told a White House briefing.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4509651,00.html
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