You know guys and gals that Richardson is really a dip shit. He ranks right up there with the senator/vp candidate that I am beginning to detest.
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Thursday November 30, 6:02 pm Eastern Time
US makes goal to ship 23 mln bbls of emergency oil
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Thursday the Clinton administration has reached its goal of shipping 23 million barrels of emergency oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by the end of November.
The department actually surpassed its goal, delivering 23.207 million barrels of the crude to energy companies in an effort to boost oil product supplies this winter.
The total includes a final 450,000-barrel shipment that was scheduled for late on Thursday.
``We beat the clock and we are waging a fight with Old Man Winter, and we are winning,'' Richardson said.
The shipments are part of the Clinton administration's plan to loan 30 million barrels of emergency oil to energy firms, who will then refine the crude into heating oil and other petroleum products.
The remaining 7 million barrels of reserve oil will be shipped in December, as scheduled, Richardson said.
BP Amoco (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BP.L) has received the most deliveries of reserve crude - 6.151 million barrels.
The other companies that have taken the government oil are Marathon Ashland (NYSE:MRO - news) (NYSE:ASH - news) (4.655 million barrels); Hess Energy Trading (NYSE:AHC - news) (4.435 million barrels); Equiva (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SHEL.L)
(NYSE:TX - news) (2.507 million barrels); Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (NYSE:MWD - news) (2.009 million barrels); Vitol (1.803 million barrels); Elf Trading (975,000 barrels) and Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO - news) (672,000 barrels).
Most of the shipped oil has come from the reserve's West Hackberry site in Louisiana, which holds ``sweet'' crude that is easier for refiners to process because it contains less sulfur.
The U.S. may have to dip into the emergency stockpile again.
Richardson said the Clinton administration was ready to tap the U.S. reserve, if necessary, to counter a cut-off in Iraqi oil exports.
Iraq has threatened to halt its exports of crude oil if the United Nations does not accept a new price formula for the country's December oil shipments.
``We're ready to do it quickly,'' he said, when asked how fast the Energy Department could move the emergency stockpiled oil into the market.
It would take about 15 days to get the oil out of the reserve and into the market, according to the department. |
