Washington (Platts)--22May2007

Sponsors of a House bill to expand the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5
billion barrels would like to attach it to a broader House energy bill which
could be ready by July 4, a congressional aide said Tuesday.

     The bill was introduced Monday by Representative Ralph Hall, Republican-
Texas.  Senator Thad Cochran, Republican-Mississippi, introduced the bill in
the Senate. The capacity of the SPR is currently 1 billion barrels.

     The administration's budget proposal provides funds to expand SPR
capacity.

     Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement that increasing the
capacity of the reserve over the next 20 years to hold over three months of
net import protection "will ensure adequate supplies of fuel" in case of a
supply disruption.

		--Gerald Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com