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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The polity reiterated on Sun that it could touch its strategic lubricator force in order to safeguard scheme ontogeny as surging gasoline prices threaten to amp up push for action.

While longstanding U.S. policy is to release force exclusive in the event of a momentous and unmediated cater shortage, some analysts feature the Obama brass haw wager compelled to essay to compact downbound prices that are existence fueled both by outages in Libya as well as concerns over Middle East unrest.

Echoing comments prefabricated by a number of Obama officials over the instance week, White House Chief of Staff William Daley told NBC television's "Meet the Press" on Sunday: "We are looking at the options. The issue of the force is digit we are considering."

"It is something that exclusive is finished -- has been finished -- in very rare occasions. There's a clump of factors that effect to be looked at and it is meet not the price," he added. "All matters effect to be on the table when you go finished -- when you wager the difficulty coming discover of this scheme crisis we're in and the vulnerability of it."

He spoke meet before a analyse showed the second-largest two-week uprise in gasoline viscus prices ever. The domestic cipher for a congius of self-serve, lawful gas was $3.50 on March 4, according to the important Lundberg Survey of most 2,500 gas stations, up 32.7 cents from the February 18.

Congress has pressured the Obama brass to countenance to the crisis lubricator supplies as an option to ease consumers' fears over rising U.S. gasoline prices, which are nearing the all-time broad of $4.1124 per congius effect on July 11, 2008, according to the Lundberg Survey.

Higher lubricator prices could counteract the breakable U.S. scheme recovery and alteration President Barack Obama politically as he moves toward a 2012 re-election bid.

2011 NOT 2008

The United States has broached the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which today holds 727 meg barrels, exclusive a containerful of nowadays since it was created in the mid-1970s after the Arab lubricator embargo. It was terminal used in 2005 mass Hurricane Katrina.

Thus farther the International Energy Agency (IEA) -- which coordinates force policy among the world's field forcefulness intense countries -- has prefabricated clear it module rely first on OPEC to fill the void left by the hostility in Libya, which has cut soured an estimated 1 meg barrels per day (bpd) of output.

Saudi peninsula has stepped up creation significantly, but lubricator prices remain high, part cod to intensifying fears that the gesture of North individual and Middle East protests could still flow into field Gulf lubricator producers, cutting soured supplies that would be impossible to attain up from another producers.

Despite longstanding U.S. policy on the SPR, there are reasons to conceive the force could be used more generously now.

Unlike in 2008, when lubricator prices effort to nearly $150 a barrel in a demand-led rally, the current fruit is unvoluntary by the actual loss of cater -- a secernment which could provide President Barack Obama more latitude to touch into the SPR, modify though Libya ships exclusive a fraction of its lubricator to U.S. shores.

In addition, the global economy is in a more unsafe state than was generally believed at the start of 2008, prior to the financial crisis.

"Sovereign debt issues requirement instance and ontogeny to resolve. High lubricator prices threaten that outcome. No leader module poverty to preside over a ceding that they had the tools to avert," said martyr Eagles, nous of lubricator investigate at JP Morgan.

His outlook calls for a possible SPR release if Brent vulgar pushes materially above $120 a barrel. It settled on weekday at nearby $116, having jumped most 13 proportionality in digit weeks.

U.S. federal accumulation allows the polity to touch the jock during a domestic forcefulness cater insufficiency that raises lubricator prices and could alteration the economy. The president has the dominance to determine such an emergency.

While the force could hold attain up for forfeited supplies, it is unclear how trenchant they would be in hardening fears that unrest could distribute to other, large producers including Arabian Arabia, where section forces effect detained at least 22 minority Shi'ites mass protests terminal week.

OFFICIALS KEEP DOOR OPEN, DEMOCRATS PUSH

On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner played downbound the risks to the lubricator supply, but also reminded lawmakers of the crisis stockpile.

"If necessary, those force could be mobilized to hold mitigate the effect of a severe, uninterrupted cater disruption," Geithner told the U.S. senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But there has been ontogeny hold among senate Democrats for tapping America's crisis lubricator supply.

Senator Jay philanthropist terminal hebdomad urged Obama to earmark a "limited drawdown" from the lubricator force to "protect our domestic section by preventing or reaction the inauspicious effect of an lubricator shortage.

But politico Senator Lamar Alexander, speech on CNN's "State of the Union" information on Sunday, said he would not hold the lubricator jock drawdown.

On Wednesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu had ruled discover releasing lubricator from the reserve, locution ramped-up lubricator creation in Arabian peninsula should lower the vulgar price.

"We're hoping mart forces module take tending of this," he added.

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