Surprising, to say the least

Europe to send emergency oil to U.S.---

PARIS (Reuters) - Europe will dip into its emergency stocks of gasoline to help the United States through an energy crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina smashing into Gulf Coast refiners, EU governments said on Friday.

France, Germany, Spain and Italy declared they were ready to send fuel across the Atlantic in an operation coordinated by the West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Paris-based IEA announced its members would release two million barrels per day (bpd) of oil over an initial period of 30 days.

About half that will be gasoline from European refiners that will roughly match output lost from the Gulf Coast's battered refineries. The remainder will be crude from U.S. reserves.

EU nations have watched in horror as the world's richest country struggles with the aftermath of Katrina. Thousands are feared dead and troops in the flooded city of New Orleans have been told to shoot-to-kill to crack down on looting.

Our thanks to Europe for the assistance.