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| White House accused of stoking oil prices by filling reserve |
| 2003-08-13 |
| The Bush administration’s decision to buy oil for the government’s emergency reserve is contributing to tight supplies and higher energy prices, some economists and congressional Democrats contend. The Energy Department discounts the impact of the purchases, nearly 11 million barrels since the beginning of May, while a number of oil traders say other factors have had more of an impact. Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, urged Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday to immediately suspend the oil shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, ’’until the price of oil falls from its current high levels and the private sector inventories increase.’’ Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis responded: ’’The vast majority of Americans realize that insuring the SPR is key to our energy and national security. That’s why there is bipartisan support to fill the reserve’’ to its 700 million-barrel capacity. Filling the reserve when oil prices are high, huh? Wonder if the administration is expecting an "interuption" in the supply of oil from, oh, I don’t know, someplace with a lot of sand? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 I have a comment of my own on this over on my weblog. Check here. Personally, I think the people in question will be criticizing Bush for buying oil for the reserve, up until the day they're criticizing him for not having bought enough. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2003-8-14 10:58:26 PM |
| #7 Precisely - It seems far too much is going on in Saudi to call it just a bit of police-work anymore. There are fights going on daily it seems. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2003-8-13 7:48:58 PM |
| #6 Imagine how the Dems would screach if something happened to the oil supply and the SPR had not been filled. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-8-13 7:09:39 PM |
| #5 "Filling the reserve when oil prices are high, huh? Wonder if the administration is expecting an "interuption" in the supply of oil from, oh, I don’t know, someplace with a lot of sand? " In this context, note the report of a gun fight in Riyadh. And reports just in that Saudis are finding a huge network of al qaeeda cells across the country. Either A. We are getting these results cause of pressure, and filling the reserve makes it easier to keep the pressure on B. We're still not getting adequate results and are preparing to break with them C. We're happy with the results, but are afraid the country is about to blow up. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-8-13 5:38:13 PM |
| #4 The Dems are continuously probing the armor of the present administration with daggers to find weaknesses to exploit. They do not want consensus, their whole effort is basically destruction, and defense be damned in the process. Given the potential increased instability of the middle |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-13 5:34:29 PM |
| #3 Who to believe? Oil prices fell today after Iraq began pumping crude to Turkey for export to world markets and news broke of an increase in U.S. crude inventories, easing concerns about tight supplies. Crude oil for September delivery was down $1.07, or 3.4 percent, at $30.85 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. If prices settle at this level it would be the lowest close since July 31 and biggest one-day decline since July 22. Oil is up 11 percent from a year ago. Oil prices edged higher in early deals on Wednesday as traders nervously awaited another expected fall in already low levels of US gasoline stocks. |
| Posted by: growler 2003-8-13 5:25:09 PM |
| #2 (D-Bushhater), now that's redundant... |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-8-13 4:51:39 PM |
| #1 Did Sen. Levin (D-Bushhater) have any comments when Clinton/Gore released oil from the SPR to get votes? Didn't think so |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-13 4:48:49 PM |