Obama taps US oil reserve to cut price amid Libya war
Oil prices fell as much as 6% this a.m. in Nymex trading
Obama taps US oil reserve to cut price amid Libya war
Joseph N. DiStefano
Oil prices fell as much as 6% this morning as President Obama says he's agreed to sell millions of barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "in coordination with the International Energy Agency" to counter inflationary pressure from the cutoff of Libyan oil due to NATO attacks and civil war in the North Africa nation, and to threatened cuts from Arab countries facing political strife. The IEA, a group of 28 energy-importing nations, earlier today said it had convinced the US and other governments to release a total of 60 million barrels over the next month to help replace the 132 million barrels that Libya hasn't shipped this year. The world burns more than 80 million barrels of oil a day. Obama said in March he would consider opening the strategic reserve if needed.
Smart move!— bronski- ride a bike.— Don Cornelius
- great !!!! use up emergency oil reserves and still stop offshore drilling, shale edrilling and the alaskan source....one more stupid decision by the president. Can he get any dumber....2012 cannot come soon enough.......Can't say he and all his washington cronies have many brains.....45 years with NO energy policy and still we have oil dependence on our enemies.....Good job Mr President...and congress (both parties).....you are all fools and every incumbent should be voted out......— nuggett
- Better late than never. When the price of gas was $4 per gallon (or close to it), he didn't care. Wouldn't that have been the time for him to be presidential, and make an important decision on our behalf?— dee99999
- Seems to be closing the barn door after the horses have already excaped to the Tonner.— hunglikeaton
- Just cheap politics while risking our future. Squander it now and it wont be there when we need it in the future. The purpose of the reserve was a national emergency, not Obama's polling slide. In a Liberal's mind - that oil is similar to taxes - it rises money for them to steal.— Beethoven987
- Maybe if we didnt give all of our oil to other countries we wouldnt have to rely on outher countries.— lighterfluid
- Seems silly now that oil is under $100 anyway. But whatever, I guess you guys can get back to buying giant SUV's again— fasterthantheworld
- Cheap politics. This is not an emergency and the oil should have stayed put for a real emergency.— jlcharles
- Faster, so we can overpower pipsqueaks like you on the road.— Domenic
Comment removed.- @Kelprod2 vs. June of 2008 when gas was $4.00 a gallon. Brilliant. Can't we just focus on the natural gas conversion??? Instead of the having bones thrown at us???— Frank-in-NJ
- What is that supposed to do? The released amount constitutes 2/3rds of ONE DAY'S consumption. The US gets about 2% of its overall oil from Libya. Questions: (1) Why are Libyian events affecting our oil price at all? (2) How is this less-than-a-day supply addition supposed to affect oil prices?
It's already comeing back, actually. After yesterday it's gone up by over a dollar already.— homeboy
