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US may consider tapping strategic oil reserve â€Ž

07 March 2011 08:25 (UTC +04:00)

Tapping into the oil reserve "has been done on very rare occasions," Daley said on NBC’s "Meet the Press."

"There are a bunch of factors that have to be looked at, and it’s not just the price," he said.

The average price for regular gasoline over the weekend hit $3.50 a gallon in the United States, an increase of 32.7 cents since Feb. 18, and the biggest jump since September 2005, according to Trilby Lundberg, an independent gasoline analyst in Camarillo, Calif.

The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Seattle-Bellevue-Everett was $3.65 on Sunday.

The increase reflects the rise in crude-oil prices because of unrest across the Mideast and North Africa as well as demand from economic recovery.

"You have increasing [oil] demand worldwide as the global economy improves," Daley said. "There’s no question this recovery is real and strong. The price of energy can have a serious impact. ... The uncertainty in the Middle East has caused tremendous increase in the last few weeks."

The 727-million-barrel U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the largest stockpile of government-owned oil in the world. It was established after the 1973-74 shortage created by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut off oil over U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

The reserve allows the government to respond to disruptions in commercial supplies and maintain a national-defense fuel reserve. The oil is stored in huge underground salt caverns along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

The government tapped the reserve in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.