New York, (EFE) – The price of Texas intermediate oil (WTI) fell 7% this Thursday and stood at 100.28 dollars a barrel after the White House announced the largest release of crude oil from its strategic reserves until the date.
According to data at the end of operations on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for delivery in May subtracted 7.54 dollars from the previous close.
The benchmark crude oil in the US accelerated losses after learning that the US will release one million barrels of oil a day for the next 6 months, some 180 million in total, to respond to the escalation in energy prices stemming from the war in Ukraine.
It is the third time that President Joe Biden has ordered the use of strategic reserves: he released 50 million in November and another 30 million on March 1, although on those occasions there was no significant impact on the prices of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum derived fuels.
Biden, who hopes this record amount will act as a “wartime bridge” until the US increases its domestic production, revealed that he is coordinating with his allies around the world and expects other nations to contribute between 30 and 50 million of barrels.
Goldman Sachs analysts considered in a note published today that this contribution of strategic reserves to the market can help to balance it this year, but not to solve its structural deficit.
The price of oil has skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began more than a month ago, but before that it was already on an upward path due to growing demand linked to the economic recovery after the covid-19 crisis.
In this sense, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, confirmed today that the modest increase in its oil supply of 432,000 barrels per day (bd), planned for July 2021, will come into effect in May, despite calls for open the taps more.
Elsewhere, natural gas contracts for May delivery rose 4 cents to $5.64 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts due the same month fell almost 14 cents to $3.15 a gallon.
