LONDON, Aug 31: Oil prices eased on Wednesday after the United States said it would release oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refineries left short of crude after Hurricane Katrina battered platforms.

Opec later said it would do its utmost to ensure the stability of the global oil market in the wake of Katrina and would discuss the means at its summit in Vienna on September 19-20.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, fell 31 cents to $69.50 per barrel after earlier rising above $70.

It had surged to an all-time high of $70.85 on Tuesday, as traders evaluated the damage to US oil facilities caused by Katrina.

The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October dropped 57 cents to $67.00 per barrel on Wednesday, after striking a record peak of $68.89 on Tuesday.

Current prices remain more than double the levels reached in 2003.

The United States prepared on Wednesday to open its emergency oil reserves for the first time in a year to replenish Gulf Coast refinery operations devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the White House decided late Tuesday to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve following a request from the oil industry.

“We worked through it and it was approved,” Bodman told MSNBC television.—AFP