The Department of Energy has canceled its offer for the purchase of 6 million barrels for the strategic petroleum reserve amid the latest surge in oil prices. These hit the highest in three months earlier this week on strong demand projections, OPEC cuts and outages, and a massive 15.4-million-barrel decline in U.S. inventories for the week to July 28. Last year, to arrest an inexorable climb in retail fuel prices, the White House announced a release of 180 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. Critics warned the move…
