Senator To Call For SPR Oil Release

US Sen Schumer, Others To Call For SPR Oil Release

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and others will call on the Bush administration Wednesday to tap the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down gasoline prices ahead of the summer driving season, Schumer’s office said Tuesday in a statement.

The call comes just after the Department of Energy said it expects regular gasoline prices to average a record high over $2 a gallon this summer and oil futures again topped $55 a barrel in New York.

Industry analysts disagree as to whether an SPR release could have any lasting impact on oil prices, but Schumer has repeatedly called on the administration to use the reserve.

The administration, meanwhile, has generally refused, saying the reserve should only be used in the case of genuine supply emergencies. In fact, the administration has been filling the reserve to capacity, saying it’s a matter of national security.

The reserve was last tapped last autumn after Hurricane Ivan left some Gulf Coast refineries desperately short of low-sulfur crude.

-By Andrew Dowell, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4430; andrew.dowell@ dowjones.com

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