U.S. could release emergency oil in war-Exxon CEO

www.forbes.com Reuters, 03.04.03, 1:29 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond said Tuesday that the Bush administration could release emergency crude reserves in the event of a war with Iraq, depending on the extent of disruption to oil supply. "It's clear if there's going to be a war, then Iraq is going to stop exporting," Raymond told analysts in New York. "The U.S. government could release some oil from the SPR. I wouldn't want to suggest to you that there will be clarity on this at all. There are a lot of what ifs and whens," he added. World crude prices have recently soared to 12-year highs on fears of a U.S. military strike against Iraq, the world's eighth largest oil exporter. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said last week that the United States was prepared to act quickly to release emergency crude oil reserves if needed to offset a severe disruption to Middle East supplies in the event of war. Raymond said that the OPEC oil cartel, which pumps a third of world supply, may be able to raise production enough to cover the supply shortfall. "(It) depends on how long a war is going to be or has Saddam Hussein torched his oil fields. I have no doubt OPEC could deal with that... I believe the Saudis have more capacity," he said. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter has raised production around one million barrels per day (bpd) to nine million bpd since the start of the year as a workers' strike in Venezuela cut into global supply.