Better yet, it does not require as much dedicated infrastructure as LNG: it can be shipped in normal tankers, and unloaded at an ordinary port.
There is no doubt that the oil is coming out much more slowly than is normal from a tanker spill.
The Worldwide Tanker Normal Freight Scale, often referred to as Worldscale, is established and governed jointly by the Worldscale Associations of London and New York.
The Air Force pressed for the lease as a faster way to obtain the tankers than the normal military-budget process.
In the 24 hours after Mr Blair predicted that things would begin to return to normal, just 10% of petrol tankers returned to service.
In that study, the National Defense University, a military education center at Fort McNair in Washington, found that the Air Force bypassed the normal competitive process for acquisitions in negotiating the tanker deal with Boeing.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System resumed normal oil pumping after the weather improved, and tankers began loading at the port of Valdez, Alaska, for the first time since Monday.
Mr. Warner's letter left open the possibility that the Air Force might get the 100 tankers that it wants, but not immediately and only by going through normal procurement channels.
"The C.B.O. has concluded that the transaction would essentially be a purchase of the tankers by the federal government, but at a cost greater than would be incurred under the normal appropriation and procurement process," the report said.
