
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 12, 1991                   TAG: 9102120123
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OIL COMPANIES GET STOCKPILE'S FIRST FLOW

More than 1.8 million barrels of oil stockpiled under the Texas and Louisiana coastlines has been flowing to the nation's oil companies since Thursday - the first use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve since its creation in 1977.

Energy Department officials confirmed Monday that the reserve has delivered 1.1 million barrels by pipeline and another 740,000 barrels to barges and ships docked at its terminals in Louisiana.

The delivery comprises a little more than 10 percent of the 17.3 million-barrel sale of sweet and sour crude authorized last month by Energy Secretary James Watkins in an effort to create a buffer against price increases caused by the loss of oil imports from the Middle East.

by CNB