|
|
|
| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Japan to tap strategic oil reserves to ease post-Katrina shortfall Japan, Sept 3 AFP - Japan said Saturday it would tap its strategic oil reserves for the first time in 14 years to cope with US supply disruptions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Tokyo's decision follows an agreement by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Friday that all 26 member states would pour 60 million barrels of oil into the global market in a month to deal with the supply shock. Japan's trade ministry said Tokyo's oil release would amount to 12 percent of the total 60 million barrels, and that the government planned to free the oil reserves as soon as possible. "We discussed with the IEA late yesterday the release of our strategic oil reserves, and the measure is to help ease the oil supply disruptions in the United States," a trade ministry official said. Japan last tapped its oil reserves during the Gulf War in 1991 as part of global efforts to curb soaring oil prices, the trade ministry said. The Paris-based IEA's initiative will make available to the market two million barrels of strategic oil reserves a day for an initial 30 days. The United States, which has already released nine million barrels of oil from its 700-million-barrel strategic reserves, will put 30 million barrels on the market from Tuesday, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Friday. Katrina has deprived the United States of nearly 10 percent of its oil refining capacity, which even before the storm was seen as inadequate to meet demand. Katrina made landfall on the US Gulf Coast on Monday, thrashing the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The death toll is unknown but is expected to reach the thousands. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
