U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Tuesday repeated the government will not halt deliveries of crude oil to the nation's emergency stockpile, and said the shipments have a "nearly negligible" impact on market prices.
The Bush administration is under increasing pressure from Congress to halt deliveries because crude oil and gasoline prices are nearing record highs.
"The reason we're filling the reserves is predicated on national security concerns," Abraham said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Energy Department's annual budget request.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of House of Representatives lawmakers asked the Bush administration to stop filling the stockpile and keep all available oil in the market to help ease soaring fuel prices as American farmers prepare to begin spring planting.
The American Automobile Association, the largest U.S. motorist and travel group, announced on Tuesday that U.S. average retail gasoline prices hit a record high of $1.738 per gallon. The government has predicted that the average pump price will hover around $1.83 a gallon in April and May.
Abraham told the Senate panel that a government analysis of shipments to the stockpile, known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, showed "the impact (on market prices) is nearly negligible."
Some oil producers might cut their output if the Energy Department stopped filling the stockpile, Abraham said. He did not elaborate.
Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy asked Abraham to explain why the Bush administration is not "jawboning OPEC" to persuade the oil cartel to boost production. "It is an intolerable position. No one can understand it," Kennedy said.
Abraham responded by saying, "We won't beg OPEC for oil."