Washington (Platts)--14Mar2008

All 49 Democrats in the US Senate, along with two independents who caucus
with them, stepped up pressure on President Bush Friday to stop filling the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the end of the year unless oil prices fall
below $75/barrel.

In a letter to the White House, the senators, led by Senator Byron
Dorgan of North Dakota, repeated claims that the US Department of Energy is
"contributing to current high energy prices" by continuing to put oil in the
emergency stockpile.

"It makes no sense to store oil underground when oil is trading at record
prices," the senators said in the March 11 letter, which a Dorgan spokesman
said was sent to Bush on Friday. "By taking a one-year pause from filling the
SPR, the administration would put downward pressure on oil prices and bring
some relief to consumers."

Dorgan previously said he had prepared legislation to bar DOE from adding
to SPR until oil prices drop below $75/b, and planned to attach it to a bill
with a good chance of enactment. As of Friday, the senator had not found such
a candidate, said his spokesman, Justin Kitsch.

"The SPR is already 97% full, and we believe it serves as an important
economic and national security buffer," the senators said. "But, according to
the Department of Energy, we already exceed our International Energy Program
commitments to maintain at least 90 days of oil stocks in reserve."

The stockpile held nearly 700 million barrels of oil as of March 14,
according to DOE. It has a capacity of 727 million barrels.