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nergy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday the Bush administration has decided to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refiners meet any shortfalls in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, news services reported.

The move is designed to give refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to take the place of interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm, the Associated Press reported.

The SPR, which holds just over 700 million barrels of oil in salt caverns in Texas and Western Louisiana, became filled to capacity earlier this month. (Click here for previous coverage.)

"Any steps the Bush administration can take to ensure steady oil supplies are welcomed by the trucking industry," Graves said. "This decision illustrates that the President is willing to take the necessary steps to ensure America’s economic well-being."

Meanwhile, gasoline and diesel tanks ran dry at some terminals in the Midwest, South and Southeast as refiners and wholesalers across most of the country started rationing deliveries to filling stations and convenience stores, Bloomberg reported.

Gasoline wholesale prices continued to rise to record levels, and average retail could soon top $3 a gallon nationwide, news reports said. Televised reports Wednesday from the Midwest said prices in Chicago and other areas had already topped that level.

U.S. retail gasoline prices rose to a record Tuesday, averaging $2.619 a gallon, according to AAA, and could rise further as the price surge caused by the hurricane filters through to retail prices, Bloomberg reported.

In the past five years, pump prices have averaged about 62 cents higher than futures prices, Bloomberg said. Based on today's record price, the average cost to consumers could reach $3.19 a gallon.

The total refining capacity shut down by the storm is at least 1.79 million barrels a day, Bloomberg said. The cumulative loss in refined products may be at least 30 million barrels a day, or a day and a half of U.S. demand.

Television reports said there were long lines for fuel in the states most affected by the storm — Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi — and that tempers were rising in some lines, which stretched for miles.