Strategic Oil Reserve Tapped in First Emergency Draw Since 2012
- Phillips 66 Lake Charles to receive 1 million barrels of crude
- Crude release comes amid debate over selling half of reserve
Gasoline Extends Best Rally Since 2013
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The U.S. government will release 1 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Gulf Coast refinery, the first emergency discharge in five years, after Hurricane Harvey halted foreign-crude deliveries to the heart of the nation’s refining industry.
The Phillips 66 refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, will receive the crude as part of an agreement requiring the Houston-based company to replace the oil once supplies are flowing again. As many as 11 ports were shut during Harvey’s five-day rampage across hundreds of miles of the Texas coast, leaving 28 tankers laden with more than 18 million barrels of overseas oil drifting offshore as of Wednesday night.