	study group urges increased u s oil reserves a study group said the united states should increase its strategic petroleum reserve to one mln barrels as one way to deal with the present and future impact of low oil prices on the domestic oil industry u s policy now is to raise the strategic reserve to mln barrels from its present mln to help protect the economy from an overseas embargo or a sharp price rise the aspen institute for humanistic studies a private group also called for new research for oil exploration and development techniques it predicted prices would remain at about dlrs a barrel for several years and then rise to the mid s with imports at about pct of u s consumption the study cited two basic policy paths for the nation to protect the u s industry through an import fee or other such device or to accept the full economic benefits of cheap oil but the group did not strongly back either option saying there were benefits and drawbacks to both it said instead that such moves as increasing oil reserves and more exploration and development research would help to guard against or mitigate the risks of increased imports reuter 
