Scant oil price relief if US stops filling reserve
Thursday, May 15th, 2008A move to stop filling the U.S. emergency oil reserve will do little to slow the record spike in fuel prices that is intensifying an economic slowdown in the world’s biggest energy consumer.
U.S. lawmakers voted overwhelmingly this week on bills to suspend adding oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until oil prices slip back to $75 a barrel from current levels around $125 — a proposal that the White House has consistently opposed.
The move would redirect an estimated 70,000 barrels of crude oil per day into the market — supply that would otherwise have been shipped to the reserve.