- LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The
process of filling up of the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve,
which began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, passed a milestone this
week when it reached the highest level in the 25-year history of the emergency
oil stockpile.
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- The Department of Energy said Friday that the amount
of oil in the SPR, a system of underground storage caverns, had increased
to 592 million barrels.
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- It said that stockpiling for use in times of emergency
would continue until the SPR reached its 770-million-barrel capacity.
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- "At a time when energy security is one of our highest
national priorities, this milestone is especially timely," said Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham.
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- "Every barrel of oil in the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve provides added energy insurance that helps protect Americans against
emergency oil disruptions."
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- President George W. Bush ordered the SPR to be filled
a year ago, as the United States scrambled to respond to the deadly terrorist
strikes against the World Trade Center and Pentagon by launching military
attacks on Afghanistan.
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- According to the Energy Department, the 592-million barrel
supply passed the previous record set in 1994 and was achieved last Tuesday
when the tanker Marathon Ashland unloaded part of a 520,000-barrel cargo
of North Sea crude in Nederland, Tex. The oil was pumped into the SPR's
Big Hill storage facility Thursday.
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- Much of the oil in the SPR comes from royalties paid
to the government in the form of a cut of crude pumped from drilling sites
on federal property.
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- The United States imports about 54 percent of its crude
at a rate of more than 9.3 million barrels per day, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration.
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- Oil markets have been unsettled in recent months as the
United States continues to threaten Iraq with allegations that Saddam Hussein
and his regime have been developing weapons of mass destruction in violation
of U.N. mandates.
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- Although Iraq this week agreed to allow U.N. inspectors
back into the country, oil traders appeared to be protecting themselves
ahead of any sudden shocks that might occur over the weekend by buying
up December crude on Friday; December crude closes next week.
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- The New York Mercantile Exchange settled 22 cents higher
on the day at $25.51 per barrel.
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