Past US oil stockpile releases cut gasoline prices

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25537540.htm

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - The Bush administration's policy of not releasing crude oil from the nation's emergency stockpile to lower gasoline prices may deny consumers some relief at the pump based on two past government decisions to tap the reserve. snip

In the first instance of using the reserve, the senior President Bush on Jan. 16, 1991 announced on television that U.S. and allied warplanes launched attacks against Iraq for invading Kuwait. Simultaneously, the United States began releasing almost 34 million barrels of oil from the stockpile.

The announcement contributed to a drop in the retail price of gasoline of 16.7 cents a gallon over a six-week period, from about $1.19 to $1.03 a gallon, according to data from the EIA.

In today's prices, that 14 percent drop would be equal, on a percentage basis, to cutting the current $2.06 per gallon national average by almost 29 cents to $1.77 a gallon.

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