Bodman says government won't tap oil reserve
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Thursday the Bush administration will not change its policy of using the government's oil reserve only for major supply problems and not to curb prices, in spite of record high oil prices and market fears about tight winter supplies.
Bodman also said at an energy conference that the Energy Department's plan to keep about 12 million barrels of crude oil off the market and begin delivering it to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in January won't "materially affect" oil prices.
Bodman said he was "very concerned" about soaring oil prices, which he said suggests more supplies are needed from OPEC and other major oil producing nations.
Though the U.S. oil price hit a record $98.62 a barrel on Wednesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bodman declined to say whether $100-a-barrel oil was inevitable. "I'm not going to try to forecast what the price of a barrel of oil might be," he said.
(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
