Reagan signs law to spur filling of US oil reserve

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Shutt

August 5, 1982

Washington

President Reagan signed into law a measure requiring the government to move rapidly in filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, designed to lessen the shock of any oil import cutoff.

The measure, called the National Energy Emergency Preparedness Act of 1982, requires that the oil be added to the petroleum reserve at the rate of 300,000 barrels a day. Mr. Reagan said the will spend nearly $11 billion between now and 1984 to ensure that the economy would be safe from the effects of a cutoff.