In response to the devastation of the Louisiana coast caused by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush has decided to release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
White House to tap reserves (CNN/Money)
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday that the White House plans on tapping the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refiners hurt by Hurricane Katrina. Bodman said in interviews televised on CNN and other networks that officials have not determined the amount of crude oil that will be drawn from stockpiles, but that it would be a loan to refiners. “The SPR was put in place specifically for this kind of an event,” Bodman said in one interview. “We now have, in some instances, problems with getting crude to some refineries.”
The reserve is the government’s emergency stockpile of crude oil, which is overseen by the Energy Department. The oil reserves are estimated at more than 700 million barrels stored in underground caverns in Louisiana and Texas.
It’s unclear how this is going to help solve the problem of inadequate refinery capacity, which is the primary impact the storm will have on our energy supply.
via OTBBU
