WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Two senators Friday asked the government halt the filling of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and allow world crude oil prices to cool off.
Michigan Democrat Carl Levin and Republican Susan Collins of Maine said economists had concluded buying oil for the SPR was adding more than $4 to the price of a barrel of oil, which was trading around $34.50 per barrel in New York Friday.
The senators said the SPR currently holds 645 million barrels of oil, and the supply will be increased by another 35 million barrels over the course of the year.
Levin and Collins said deposits in the SPR have continued uninterrupted since 2001, and the time had come to put the brakes on before continuing high oil prices start doing serious damage to the U.S. economy.
