The European Union is to send emergency stocks of oil to help the United States through an energy crisis that began when Hurricane Katrina smashed into Gulf coast refiners.
France, Germany and Spain said they were ready and able to send fuel across the Atlantic in an operation coordinated by the West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IAE). A US government official confirmed Washington had asked for help and said most of the gasoline would come from Europe.
Gasoline prices have soared by nearly a fifth over the past week and President Bush has urged Americans to go easy on fuel. Unlike the IEA, the United States has only emergency reserves of crude and a small stockpile of heating oil.
But Europe's pledge of gasoline may carry a political price for Washington. Differences over trade and foreign policy have strained relations between the United States and some EU member states including Germany and France.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expects a massive two million barrels per day of oil to be shipped to the United States over the next month. The United States has lost about one million bpd of gasoline output.
"We assume that would lead to there being sufficient energy reserves in the market and, second, we would wish the pressure on the prices of oil products to be lessened," Mr Schroeder said.
Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wales, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "Whatever the United States asks for they will be given."