Drilling row trips speculation bill

Washington: The White House has made a new push for expanded offshore drilling to help lower fuel prices, days after new government data showed American petroleum product exports hit record levels.

Flanked in the White House Rose Garden by his cabinet after meeting to discuss energy issues, President George W. Bush called on Congress to pass legislation before its month-long August recess to allow more offshore drilling.

"To reduce pressure on prices, we need to increase the supply of oil, especially here at home," Bush told reporters.

Bush this month lifted an executive order that had banned drilling in most US waters and wants Congress to end its own drilling ban before lawmakers leave town in August.

"The sooner Congress lifts the ban, the sooner we can get this oil from the ocean floor to your gas tank," Bush said.

Critics of the offshore drilling plan noted that the Energy Department released data this week showing that US exports of finished petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel, soared to 1.592 million barrels per day in May.

The exports set a record for the month and were up 31 per cent from a year ago.

Jim Greeff, deputy legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, said the export data shows it was "misleading" for the administration or the oil industry to suggest new offshore supplies would reduce US pump prices.

"The oil companies pushing for drilling is nothing more than a land grab," Greeff said.

The Bush administration says the US needs to develop more of its oil resources to reduce its addiction to foreign crude.

Exports were equal to about half the 3.204 million barrels a day in petroleum products that the United States imported during May.

In May, US oil companies shipped 183,000 barrels of gasoline a day out of the country, even as Americans saw prices at the pump steadily rise.

May's gasoline exports were almost double year-earlier levels, the most for May since 1945 when America was providing motor fuel to other countries toward the end of the Second World War.

US exports of diesel fuel reached 444,000 barrels a day in May, a record for any month and four times higher than a year ago.

Washington (Reuters) A bill aimed at preventing excessive speculation in oil and other futures trading did not get enough votes to pass in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, as Republicans complained the measure did not also open more offshore areas to oil drilling.

Representatives voted 276-151 for the bill to tighten position limits on energy and agricultural futures contracts. But a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the bill, which was debated under rules that prevented any amendments.

"This is no substitute for a real bill on drilling," said House Republican Leader John Boehner, of Ohio. The White House had threatened to veto the bill. Sponsor Collin Peterson said Democratic leaders intend to call a new vote in September under a format that requires only a majority vote to pass.

"We've got plenty of votes" for that, said the Minnesota Democrat. He said an oil-drilling amendment would be out of order on the bill.

With November elections looming and fuel prices surging, Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked in both chambers of Congress over how to address energy issues.

Another anti-speculation bill is mired in the Senate in the dispute over drilling in restricted areas.

President George W. Bush has urged Congress repeatedly to develop US oil resources.