May 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate passed legislation last night halting oil shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to ease record oil and gasoline prices. President George W. Bush is expected to sign it.

The bill, passed in a voice vote, stops deliveries to the reserve through December unless the price of oil stays at or below $75 per barrel for 90 days. It was passed in both chambers by veto-proof majorities in different legislative vehicles May 13. The Senate last night approved the House measure, preparing it for enactment.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said May 13 that Bush will sign the measure even though he does not support the idea of stopping oil deliveries to the reserve, on security grounds.

``Despite the president's objections, both the House and Senate have voted overwhelmingly to suspend deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which can save consumers now,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Crude oil surged to a record $126.98 per barrel May 13 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline at the pump rose 10.9 cents to a high of $3.722 per gallon, the Energy Department said May 12. Yesterday, oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.58, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $124.22 a barrel.

Senate sponsors of the reserve provision said it made no sense to continue storing the oil when prices are so high. The Energy Department is filling the stockpile at an average rate of 70,000 barrels per day. As of yesterday, the reserve held 702.7 million barrels out of a capacity of 727 million barrels.

The Energy Information Administration estimates the fill rate adds about $2 to each barrel of oil and 4 cents to 5 cents per gallon to the price of gasoline.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Whitten in Washington at dwhitten2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 15, 2008 00:02 EDT