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To: Ken98 who wrote (24178)	10/3/2000 5:36:37 PM
From: Ken98	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Looks like they can't give the SPR oil away: <<NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton may have ordered the release of oil from the nation's strategic reserves but Washington is having mixed results in its effort to sell the crude, oil companies told Reuters in a poll on Tuesday. Oil majors such as Royal Dutch/Shell (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SHEL.L) and Texaco (NYSE:TX - news) through their U.S. downstream venture Equilon, BP Amoco (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BP.L)(NYSE:BP - news), and Conoco(NYSE:COCa - news) said they have submitted bids for some of the 30 million barrels of oil put on the block. ``We put in a bid for 1.5 million barrels on Friday,'' said Conoco spokesman Carlton Adams. Hetco, the trading arm of Amerada Hess (NYSE:AHC - news) also said it placed bids. But No. 1 U.S. oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM - news), Coastal Corp (NYSE:CGP - news) , and Phillips Petroleum (NYSE:P - news) said they have begged off placing offers. Meanwhile U.S No. 2 Chevron Corp (NYSE:CHV - news), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO - news) and leading independent refiner Sunoco Inc (NYSE:SUN -news) which is based in the northeast heating oil consumer hub, declined to comment on whether they had submitted bids. The U.S. Department of Energy plans to contact energy firms on Wednesday to ensure their bids are ``best and final offers'' for the oil, which Clinton decided last month to release in an effort to prevent a heating oil supply crisis this winter. A public announcement on the winning bidders is scheduled for Friday. While the government's efforts have helped bring down crude oil prices nearly $5 to around $32 a barrel Tuesday, some refiners say they are already running near capacity and that the extra crude will not result in higher heating oil yields. ``We're currently producing more 10-15 percent distillate fuel than we were last year. Our refiners are running at maximum capacity.'' said a Exxon-Mobil spokeswoman, ``We don't need the oil.'' Other companies which don't have refining capacity in the U.S. Gulf near the underground salt caverns where the SPR is stored, said that they would not likely take part in the bidding process.>>