Energy secretary rejects releasing oil from US government emergency stockpiles

WASHINGTON: Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman rejected a call Thursday by some members of Congress to release oil from the U.S. government’s emergency stockpile, saying that oil is needed to respond to future oil supply emergencies and not to influence prices.

Bodman also told a House hearing that he does not believe that rampant market speculation is causing extraordinary high oil prices that reached a record $135 (


Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat, said he did not understand why President George W. Bush is not releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to force down prices. Bodman said he was against releasing oil. The stockpile, now 701 million barrels, “is meant to deal with … the physical interruption of the flow of oil to our country. We don’t have that issue today.”

AP