The US Energy Department said on Wednesday it would loan 300,000 barrels of fuel oil to four companies from the nation's emergency heating oil reserve in an effort to counter surging prices before the onset of winter. The offer, reported first by Reuters, came after senators from both political parties urged the administration to release heating oil from the reserve as prices of diesel, a fuel from the same refining stream, hit records above $6.50 per gallon on energy disruption across the Middle East caused by the Iran war.