EU oil reserves at risk, as hurricane Rita approaches

EU oil aid to the US in the wake of hurricane Katrina could drain some member states’ stocks below agreed minimums Brussels warned, as hurricane Rita prepares to smash into Texas this weekend.

“Some will almost certainly go below that figure”, the European Commission’s energy department head Helmut Schmitt von Sydow warned on Thursday (22 September), referring to a 1968 agreement under which the EU15 promised not to let oil reserves fall below 90 days’ worth of consumption.

He also revealed that while member states are not planning drastic action to cut fuel consumption in the short term, ideas such as a pan-European no-car Sunday or shutting airports were put forward as potential emergency measures during an oil group meeting on Wednesday.

EU Observer