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September 23, 2004 12:45 AM, EDT

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hite House spokesman Scott McClellan confirmed Thursday the United States may loan oil to refineries from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to make up for supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Ivan.

The price of crude oil for November delivery declined early Thursday morning in New York, but closed at $48.46, the second-highest close since the contract began trading in 1983.

The record close was $48.70 a barrel on Aug. 19. Oil reached $49 on Thursday, the highest intraday price since a record $49.40 on Aug. 20.

Although McClellan did not give specifics, a U.S. government source told the Associated Press that two U.S. refiners had requested loans of crude oil after Hurricane Ivan slowed oil imports last week, the Associated Press reported. In addition, Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency said he approved of possible loans, Bloomberg reported.

The government source told AP that officials were reviewing one request for 100,000 barrels to 200,000 barrels and another for 1 million to 2 million barrels.

The White House previously said it would not withdraw oil from the reserve except for a severe supply disruption. The Department of Energy said Wednedsay crude oil stocks dropped 9.1 million barrels to 269.5 million barrels, the lowest level since February and almost 14 million barrels below a year earlier.

The last time the government loaned oil from the SPR was in late 2002, when Hurricane Lili disruption shipments into Gulf Coast hubs, AP said.