Free Republic

Barack Obama on 7/7/08 (much more recent than the 2005 comments): "I do not believe that we should use the strategic oil reserves at this point. I have said and, in fact, supported a congressional resolution that said that we should suspend putting more oil into the strategic oil reserve, but the strategic oil reserve, I think, has to be reserved for a genuine emergency. You have a situation, let's say, where there was a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia that was destroyed as a consequence of terrorist acts, and you suddenly had huge amounts of oil taken out...

Barack Obama is proposing tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices, his campaign said Monday. Obama supports releasing light oil from the emergency oil stockpile now and replacing it later with heavier crude more suited to the country's long-term needs, according to a campaign fact sheet. Light crude oil is easier to refine into gasoline than heavier oil. Also on Monday, the Obama campaign unveiled a television ad that criticizes Republican John McCain's energy policies. "After one president in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to President Bush's...

“The Democratic leaders in Congress will not allow us to explore for oil and gas in parts of Alaska, offshore America, and now is the time for them to change their mind,” President Bush said at the conclusion of the G-8 summit in Japan on Wednesday. Bush, in his concluding statement on the summit, said he firmly believes that oil exploration can be done in “environmentally friendly ways.” High energy prices were among the major topics of discussion at the summit of the world’s leading industrialized nations. According to President Bush, the G-8 leaders agreed that to bring oil prices...

US will stop sending oil into strategic reserves By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago The Energy Department says it has canceled oil shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning in July when the current purchase contract expires. The move came days after Congress passed legislation requiring the president to suspend the shipment into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline prices. The Energy Department said it will not sign contracts for new shipments of 76,000 barrels of oil a day for the six-month period beginning July 1. President Bush had opposed halting the shipments, arguing that...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will direct the U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday to temporarily halt deliveries of oil to a strategic reserve in order to get more fuel on the market and help reduce rising gasoline prices, a senior administration official said. The official said Bush in a morning energy speech, will tell the Energy Department to suspend deliveries this summer while supplies are tight "and defer the deposits until the fall, and then you have more oil on the market."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. commercial crude supplies shot to the highest level in nearly seven years last week on sluggish refinery use and high imports, the government said on Wednesday. U.S. oil stocks jumped 6.8 million barrels in the week ended March 3 to 335.1 million barrels, or 10 percent higher than last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the Department of Energy. "The crude build is huge," said Jason Schenker, an economist at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell more than $1.00 after...

U.S. President George Bush said Monday he will release supplies from the nation's strategic oil reserve to deal with hurricane-related fuel shortfalls. Speaking at the Department of Energy, Bush said Hurricane Rita's strike Saturday missed much of refining capacity along the Texas coast, but that the effect of it following last month's Hurricane Katrina was bound to affect supply. There was about 5.4 million barrels per day that were shut in as a result of Rita and Katrina, Bush said. A million of it is back up already, and we expect another 1.8 million barrels a day to get back...

...Soaring demand for crude oil and refined products has stretched world production capacity near its limit. Fears of a supply disruption have kept oil markets jittery, helping to push crude prices past $55 a barrel this month and supporting higher prices for other petroleum products from gasoline to heating oil. Industry observers don't expect an outright heating-oil shortage. Imports have been restricted this year because refiners in Europe are overhauling their plants to meet new European sulfur standards and growing demand for diesel there, but imports are expected to rise if prices climb high enough.... Still, price volatility looks increasingly...

<p>The Bush administration's decision to buy oil for the government's emergency reserve is contributing to tight supplies and higher energy prices, some economists and congressional Democrats contend.</p> <p>The Energy Department discounts the impact of the purchases, nearly 11 million barrels since the beginning of May, while a number of oil traders say other factors have had more of an impact.</p>