Dramatic trucker protests over fuel costs continued on three continents last week, as Europe considered tapping its own large oil reserves to help force prices down after President Clinton ordered a release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
At the same time, leaders of individual countries as well as the European Union struggled to find much-needed relief for the pain at the pump, from releasing oil stocks to granting loans or lifting fuel taxes for truckers.
The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based organization that coordinates measures to meet oil supply emergencies among its 25 member countries, announced it would meet Oct. 4 to discuss the oil market and possible release of European reserves. An IEA official told the Associated Press Sept. 27 the agency did not see a need for a collective release from EU reserves, which it estimated at 1.069 billion barrels.
For the full story, see the Oct. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. .