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Europe to send emergency oil to U.S
 Europe will dip into its emergency stocks of gasoline to help the United States through an energy crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina smashing into Gulf Coast refiners, EU governments said on Friday.France, Germany, Spain and Italy declared they were ready to send fuel across the Atlantic in an operation coordinated by the West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Paris-based IEA announced its members would release two million barrels per day (bpd) of oil over an initial period of 30 days. About half that will be gasoline from European refiners that will roughly match output lost from the Gulf Coast's battered refineries. The remainder will be crude from U.S. reserves. The IEA last dipped into its emergency reserves in 1991 when a U.S.-led coalition ejected Iraqi troops from Kuwait. The agency, created after the 1973-74 oil crisis to protect consumers, must hold stocks of 90 days of net imports. Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-03 |
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