August 29, 2005 12:30 PM, EDT

DOE May Open SPR to Meet Storm-Related Crude Shortfalls

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he Department of Energy may tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help energy producers and refiners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg reported Monday.

No oil companies have formally requested assistance, Bloomberg said, citing a DOE spokesman, but several, including Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp., shut down their Gulf of Mexico operations as Katrina moved through the gulf over the weekend.

Eight refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi with a daily capacity of 1.774 million barrels of crude oil were also shut, which account for about 9% of U.S. refining capacity, Reuters reported.

The SPR, which holds just over 700 million barrels of oil, became filled to capacity earlier this month. (Click here for previous coverage.)

Last year, DOE loaned 5.4 million barrels of crude to refiners whose supplies were disrupted by Hurricane Ivan in September.

Crude oil prices soared to more than $70 a barrel for the first time in overnight trading before Monday’s market opening of the New York Mercantile Exchange, before receding in early trading to between $68.45 in intraday trading, Bloomberg reported.

Crude’s previous high was $68 a barrel, reached in overnight trading before the Nymex opened last Thursday. Its closing record price was $67.49 that day.

(Click here for related coverage.)