Portugal Ready To Help USA

Portugal will lend the United States two percent of its strategic oil reserves, or 60,000 metric tonnes, to help the country reconstruct the oil production after Hurricane Katrina.

The offer, announced late Friday, follows an agreement by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that all 26 member states would pour 60 million barrels of oil into the global market in a month to deal with the supply shock.

Portugal will offer 40,000 tons of crude currently stored in Germany and 20,000 tons of gasoline from tanks at a refinery at the port of Sines, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Lisbon, the economy ministry said.

The offer of fuel will not affect crude stocks in the country since they are well above minimum required levels, it said.

The United States, which has already released nine million barrels of oil from its 700-million-barrel strategic reserves, will put 30 million barrels on the market from Tuesday, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Friday.