By Julianne Geiger – 04/04/2022 12:41 PM CDT
Crude oil prices rose on Monday despite an announcement last week that the Biden administration would release the largest amount of crude oil even from the US strategic oil reserves.
SPR release is scheduled to begin in May.
As of 1:00 p.m. ET, WTI was up $2.23 (+2.25%) to $101.50, while Brent was up $1.70 (+1.63%) to $106.10 a barrel and regained some of last week’s loss on the announcement of the SPR release.
WTI slipped from $108 last week on news that the Biden administration would release 1 million barrels a day of crude from the SPR over six months, totaling 108 million barrels. Critics of the plan argued at the time that the release – the largest of its kind – would have little impact on long-term crude oil price developments.
There were a number of bullish factors on Monday, including the fall in Russian production in March, the official selling price of crude oil to Asia raising to record premiums, fuel shortages in the UK amid protests and rumors that the EU may consider imposing energy sanctions on Russia over War crimes provided additional support to crude oil prices.
The first 90 million barrels of the 180 million barrels to be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be released between May and July, the DoE said Monday, through two sales announcements totaling 70 million barrels plus 20 million barrels to be released should in May. The second half of the 180 million barrels is scheduled to be released between August and October this year.
“The Department of Energy will execute President Biden’s authorization to release one million barrels per day from the Strategic Reserve immediately for six months, and we are coordinating with our international allies and partners to work together on the release of additional oil from the Strategic Reserve.” support. US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a DoE statement.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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