Richardson Leaves Open More U.S. Oil Reserve Taps

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Sunday September 24 11:19 AM ET Richardson Leaves Open More U.S. Oil Reserve Taps

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Energy Secretary Bill Richardson left open on Sunday the possibility that President Clinton (news - web sites) would add to the 30 million barrels he ordered released last week from the U.S. emergency oil reserve.

``That's up to the president,'' Richardson said on NBC television's ``Meet the Press'' in reply to a question about possible additional releases. ``I think after 30 days an assessment will be made and it's up to him.''

``What we are seeing is very positive reaction from the international community,'' Richardson added. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ``are understanding what we're doing,'' he added, calling it a U.S. domestic matter.

The Clinton administration announced on Friday it was releasing 30 million of the 571 million barrels stockpiled in Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana to damp the recent run-up in oil prices to a 10-year high of more than $30 a barrel.

Richardson said the administration had moved to prevent a possible ``national emergency,'' notably possible heating-oil shortages in the Northeast as fall temperatures begin to drop.

``If we moderate those prices, if we improve the level of crude oil stocks in the world...the effect is a positive one,'' he said, first and foremost to protect Americans ``from a possible dire winter.''

The administration tapped the reserves one day after Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), seeking to succeed President Clinton in the Nov. 7 elections, injected the issue into the U.S. presidential campaign. But Richardson denied the Clinton administration was motivated by politics or was seeking to manipulate oil prices.

``We expect prices of home heating oil, of gasoline, of crude to moderate -- that was one objective -- to go down a bit, but the main objective .. was to make sure that we had adequate stocks for this winter for the American people,'' he said.

``Our objective is to make sure that they get through the winter and that those prices go down,'' Richardson added.

Republicans including presidential nominee George W. Bush (news - web sites) have called the intervention a ``bad idea'' aimed at helping Gore in the elections.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000924/pl/energy_oil_dc_4.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 24, 2000


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