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President Bush is being urged by members of Congress to release portions
of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in order to counteract the current
high price of oil they are blaming on OPEC.
RHM
U.S. lawmakers urge Bush
to release emergency oil
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush was urged
Friday by three members of Congress to immediately begin releasing oil from the
nation's emergency crude stockpile to counter high oil prices they blame on OPEC
and the threat of war against Iraq.
The lawmakers asked Bush to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "to send a strong signal to the world oil markets, the OPEC producing nations and to Iraq that the United States stands ready to take prompt and aggressive action to protect American consumers from the adverse effects of any oil supply interruptions resulting from military actions against Iraq." The letter was signed by House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Democratic Reps. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Martin Frost of Texas. With the U.S. economy already faltering, the lawmakers urged Bush to take "preemptive action now" and order a drawdown of the stockpile to prevent further harm from gasoline or home heating oil price spikes. The lawmakers also asked Bush to order releases from the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve if supply disruptions or price spikes affect the heating oil market this winter. "In the event of U.S. military action against Iraq, we urge you to make further releases from both reserves in order to protect Americans from the high and fluctuating prices that will likely ensue," the lawmakers said. An attack on Iraq would immediately cut off that country's oil exports of 2 million barrels a day to the world market, and would likely cause crude prices to shoot up. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, created by Congress in the mid-1970s after the Arab oil embargo, currently holds 585 million barrels of oil. The Northeast Heating Oil Reserve, established by Congress two years ago, hold 2 million barrels of heating oil. Of the 7.7 million households in the United States that use heating oil to heat their homes, 5.3 million households or roughly 69 percent reside in the Northeast region of the country. President Bush has said he would only use either reserve to counter a true disruption in oil supplies and not to influence prices. Copyright 2002, Reuters News Service |