US may tap emergency oil stockpiles after pipeline fire
WASHINGTON, Nov 29: The US government said on Thursday it was prepared to tap emergency crude-oil stockpiles to mitigate the effects of a pipeline disruption in the mid-western United States.
One of four lines owned by Enbridge Energy that carries crude oil from Canada to the Chicago area ignited late on Wednesday, killing two workers and prompting the shutdown of three other lines that carry a combined 1.5 million barrels a day.
The pipeline that caught fire, which delivers roughly half a million barrels a day, had already been shut as it underwent repairs. Two of the pipelines were pumping crude again by Thursday morning, though officials were still determining how long it would take to get the third line up and running again.
The US has 63.5 million barrels of oil reserves in the mid-west region, which “can provide a cushion ... (and) oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is available to alleviate a severe supply disruption and remains available if necessary,” Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a system of salt caverns along the Louisiana and Texas coast, contains about 694 million barrels of oil to be used in a supply emergency and has a capacity of 727 million barrels the government is working to fill.
Federal officials are assessing the situation with refiners in the mid-west, and two of the four affected pipelines were back up and moving 650,000 barrels per day to the US, according to the Energy Department.
The crude is used to make several kinds of fuel, such as gasoline and home heating oil. An average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day passes through the pipeline, according to a spokesman for Houston-based Enbridge. The US consumes 20.6 million barrels of oil daily.
US crude was up 20 cents to $90.82 a barrel on Thursday after zipping as high as $95.17 earlier in the day. Brent crude was up 34 cents to $90.15 a barrel.
“I think cooler heads are prevailing here and we are heading back to the level we were going to before this happened,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. “It doesn’t look as bad as it first looked.”
Oil has risen 40 percent since August and has come close to breaking the $100 mark.—Agencies
