WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU'LL SEE THAT EFFECTIVE AT THE PUMP?:

Other nations to tap oil stockpiles: News drives prices down, nearly to pre-storm levels (Associated Press, September 6, 2005)

Oil prices fell yesterday after industrialized nations agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude from their strategic stockpiles to help avert a severe fuel shortage in the United States.

The US refinery system is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Almost 70 percent of normal oil production and half of the natural gas output in the Gulf remains shut down, the US Minerals Management Service said.

Two storm-shuttered facilities restarted, and flows of crude oil improved enough to allow refineries in the Gulf Coast and Midwest to ramp up production. But four damaged Gulf Coast refiners look likely to remain shut for weeks or even months, taking with them more than 5 percent of US capacity.

Industrialized nations arranged to send about 30 shipments of gasoline to the United States, Vienna's PV oil associates said.

On London's International Petroleum Exchange, October Brent was down $1.41 to $64.65 a barrel by midday in Europe -- close to what it had been before Katrina hit.