Energy Sec. Says Dont Release Strategic Oil
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman rejected a call by some members of Congress to release oil from the government’s emergency stockpile — the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
He said the oil is needed to respond to future supply emergencies and not to influence prices.
Bodman also said at a House hearing that he does not believe that rampant market speculation is causing extraordinary high oil prices, which reached a record $135 a barrel. He said it’s a matter of supply and demand that can be traced to essentially flat global production over the last three years.
