Reply #17: Clinton urges Bush to tap oil reserves [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0825411820071108?sp=true

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton called on the Bush administration to tap into the government's emergency crude oil and heating oil reserves to boost supplies and lower prices.

"I urge the President to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve to send a signal to the market and ease concerns about low crude oil stocks that are driving prices higher," Clinton said in a statement posted on Wednesday on her campaign Web site.

The price of U.S. crude oil hit a record $98.62 per barrel on Wednesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange and the average price consumers paid for home heating oil reached a record $3.11 per gallon this week, partly from concerns about tight petroleum supplies this winter.

Energy Department data also showed this week was the first time that the retail prices for heating oil, gasoline and diesel fuel all topped $3 per gallon at the same time.

The Bush administration has repeatedly said that the crude oil and heating oil reserves should only be used to offset major supply disruptions and not to manage energy prices.

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