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American oil companies exports 268m barrels Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Lawmaker wants list of companies exporting US oil
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With gasoline and crude oil prices at record highs, a U.S. lawmaker wants the Commerce Department to release the names of American companies that are shipping U.S. petroleum products to other countries.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon -- often a critic of big oil firms -- says information on the 268 million barrels of U.S. petroleum products exported in 2004 is needed as Congress considers a broad energy bill.
He sent a letter on Monday to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking for the list of oil companies after the department's Census Bureau, which tracks petroleum exports, refused to provide the data.
"Information about the export of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels as well as other petroleum products out of the U.S. is directly relevant to the coming Congressional debate on how to address our nation's dependence on imports of oil and other petroleum products," Wyden said in his letter.
The United States consumes about 20.8 million barrels of petroleum a day, with imports accounting for about 58 percent of supply. However, about 1 million barrels of U.S. oil petroleum products are exported daily.
Charles Kincannon, who heads the Census Bureau, told Wyden last week that he could not release the export information to an individual member of Congress.
The Census Bureau's acting general counsel later told Wyden's staff that only committees of Congress have the authority to obtain such information.
The general counsel also said federal law exempts from disclosure shippers' export declarations, unless the commerce secretary determines that such exemptions would be contrary to the national interest.
"I believe the national interest justifies you authorizing the release of the (oil) exporters' names," Wyden wrote to Gutierrez.
The senator, who is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, also said there was no basis in the law to deny his request for the names of petroleum exporters on the grounds the request did not come from a congressional committee.
While the Census Bureau wants to keep information about oil exporting companies secret, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration lists on its website monthly information on U.S. companies importing oil and petroleum products.
The Energy Department data includes the name of each importing company, how many barrels of petroleum product or oil were purchased and from what country and the U.S. port where it was delivered.
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04/05/2005 12:35
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