President Bush weighed a decision on whether to release some oil from the nation's petroleum reserves to help refiners hurt by Hurricane Katrina, administration officials said Monday. A decision was expected later in the day.
The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity along the nation's Gulf Coast.
Adminstration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Bush seemed likely to authorize a loan of some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but that details remained in flux.
In 2004, the president authorized loans from the reserve to help refiners make up for missing supplies when Hurricane Ivan struck.
Meanwhile, Bush got a briefing on the powerful storm from Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Agency, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters as Bush headed to Arizona for a speech on Medicare after leaving his Texas ranch.
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