US Taps Oil Reserves To Ward Off Shortages Due To Storms

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday as the US government decided to release crude stocks from its strategic reserve after Hurricane Gustav halted energy production in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The release of the oil will prevent any shortage and that will, of course, help calm the market," said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.

Oil prices were also weighed down by a strong dollar, which Wednesday struck an eight-month high against the euro.

Read the full story here

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Comments

[fishsandwichesr2good]

The huffnuts are all over the map on this one. "It was BO's idea". "It's an election cycle ploy to lower prices." "The thimble full of oil released won't make a difference". "We should only due this in emergencie­s." "We should have done it months ago." "It works." "It won't work".

The only thing y'all are certain of is that this is all Bush & Cheney's fault. LOL

[TrevorAlan]

I know Obama and some Dems were all for tapping the reserve, but it should be for a true emergency like a war.

And if we never tap it so it simply becomes the last oil pumped in 2250, fine.

[Belleweathered]

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?id=e9c49d58-df0f-4706-982d-6e8d9f84416c
How is this not front page news? Right, GOP convention­/distracti­on garners 7,000 comments and this a whopping 22.

"Last night, we got a request from a company doing business here in Louisiana and we met that request," Mr. Bush said, referring to a request by Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is owned by the Venezuelan state oil company.

"Oil was released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and we will continue to do that upon request by companies," Mr. Bush said.

[berryessence]

YALL MUST'VE FORGOT THAT CHINA TOOK 1 MILLION CARS OFF THE ROAD AND STOP PRODUCTION DURING THE OLYMPICS.

GIVE SEP 17, 2008.....G­AS PRICES WILL MOVE UP 10CENT A GALLON

BUSH IS TRYING TO STOP BY OPEN THE RESERVES TO KEEP PRICE AT $3.50 A GALLON

WHICH IS STILL 300% INCREASE SINCE 911

GAS WAS $1.23 FOR SUPER ON 9/10/01

[berryessence]

NOW THHEY TAP THE OIL RESERVES

WHAY HYPOCRITES!

[CO Redhawk]

and more importantl­y...just in time for the election. So that way you don't have to worry about something silly....l­ike the economy, and what are we going to drive our vehicles on when we totally run out of oil in 10 years.

Big Oil...prou­dly supporting the Republican party for over twenty years!

[Belleweathered]

Isn't this what Obama proposed 2 months ago?
Why is this not a headliner? Oh right, Palin...
I accidentally overhead Limbaugh making his usual ignorant "observations" over the drop in crude prices yesterday.

[mesmerize]

Bush could have done a lot of things in 8 years but he chose not to. Bush only does things when it's convenient for him. Sometimes i ask myself, could he have brought the troops home sooner or was he waiting for the next election, was it possible to start drilling for oil or was he waiting to use this to sway the next vote for president, could he give all citizens healthcare or was he just being selfish and holding out. I don't put anything pass Bush. Why do he feel he can finally start considering these things 4 or 5 months before leaving office that he couldn't even consider 2 years ago?

[GeoLee]

I ahve been teling people for months that this would happen to drive down the prices a month or two before the eection and that there would be firm talk about our troops leaving in an effort to take those two issues off the election plate in hopes of defeating the dems. Thjese people drove the prices up and shielded themselves bo making the biggest amount inthe reserves ever with precsely this plan four yars ago. All the big shots that came to Cheney's meetings are Rovian. And some of them live right her in Kansas, including one of the Koch brothers, where they tripled their financial worth from 5.7 billioni to 17.2 billion in one year.

[Jabali]

Gotta make sure the price of oil is around 3 dollars or less by the time of the election.

[KillTheMessenger]

You wish. Not going to happen.

[pzdoff]

Isn't something ass backwards here? Why does Bush tap the SPR when oil prices are falling, and replenish when prices are rising?

[mjt218]

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with world market prices. Offshore production in the Gulf may be off in a few areas for another week or two. Government Regulations require inspection and testing of pipelines in areas that were exposed to Hurricane force winds. This takes time, and as a result, refiners in the Gulf Coast do not have access to crude supply they would normally have to make refined products, like gasoline for markets in the Southeast US. The biggest refineries in the country are in Louisiana and most of the strategic reserve is stored in the area as well, so it works out well.

[rwe]

UH lib/progra­ssives.... Did not the Obamassiah suggest this?

[Chillinout]

Yep! O'bama ahead of the curve again! He is already our president, dictating policy to GW that GW then follows.

President O'bama, get used to saying it.

[KillTheMessenger]

No, actually, he suggested that it was a short term political stunt. Good trolling, though.

[ZellaBee]

We all know, demand is NOT the real reason, though most of the oil we use currently IS for transportation. It's about greed, power, and control. We need some oil for some products right now, but not as much as we are using and have had at least 30+ years to solve the problem, since the gas crisis of 1978-79. We already have the technologies, most just need further funding to perfect them. Solar, wind, hydrogen, electro-magnetic, the earth and its atmosphere, just to name a few. The military has kept secret some of these technologies,so we pay for their R&D, but we don't reap the benefits. Just read about Nikola Tesla (Free Energy), and how the corporate controlled US government has a LONG history of curtailing development of technology, that would have solved our energy problems over 100 YEARS AGO. If we spent HALF of what we've wasted (600B and rising) on the horrible OIL WARS, on green technology, we would be living in a safer, cleaner, healthier environment with low cost energy. We would have lots of jobs and we could be the leaders of the world in green technology. We would also have a balanced economy and more. It will happen when we have a President, Congress and Senate and others whose vision does not include oil as the only option and who care more about people, and the whole Earth , that they do about them selves, their positions, and their bank accounts.

[KillTheMessenger]

"We all know, demand is NOT the real reason,...­"

I don't know that. But if you do, please have the kindness to present to us the logical deduction that made you come to this conclusion. I am waiting to hear it for years.

[Belleweathered]

Now that the storm has passed, analysts said, slowing oil demand in the U.S. and other consumer nations would continue to depress oil prices, which have dropped from a record of $147.27 set July 11.

Source: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?id=e9c49d58-df0f-4706-982d-6e8d9f84416c

[darthdarcy]

This is just an election ploy...it'­s really disgusting how fake the Republicans are willing to be..!

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

actually, this is them bowing to Obama... he's been saying it for months now - and, of course, it works!

Obama/Biden '08!

[KillTheMessenger]

He also said that it was a short term political relief stunt and not a long term solution. Which is a lot closer to the truth. In any case... he was talking about tens of millions of barrels, not a nonsensical 250,000.

[KillTheMessenger]

250,000 barrels... let me see...

That's 1.25% of daily US consumption and 0.3% of daily global consumption.

So in other words, if your car has a 12 gallon tank, they are adding 0.15 gallons of gasoline to it. A little more than half a quart.

Cool. Now you can drive your SUV another two miles.

:-)