	herrington says he may call for oil tax benefits energy secretary john herrington said he may recommend to the white house that the domestic oil industry be given tax benefits to help it produce more oil and head off increasing u s dependence on foreign oil he said also at a news conference that he would recommend to the white house that the fill rate of the strategic petroleum reserve be increased from its planned barrels per day the oil reserve fill rate capacity is barrels a day herrington said he had always advocated a greater fill rate for the petroleum reserve but the rate had been kept down because of budgetary constraints herrington did not disclose what tax incentives he might advocate but u s officials have shown interest in tax benefits for oil and gas exploration and for research and development into new ways to extract oil which is now considered uneconomical to produce he made the remarks in conjunction with the release of the energy department s study on oil s impact on national security herrington said that before he disclosed what recommendations for tax benefits for the oil and gas industry he might make he would raise the matter with the white house economic policy committee to see if the proposals to increase oil production made good tax policy he said he would like to increase u s production by one mln barrels a day the report said that by the end of the century the united states may be relying on foreign sources for pct of its oil consumption posing a serious economic and national security threat reuter 
