Washington, Feb. 14 (BNA): Oil prices fell today, Tuesday, after the US government said it would release more crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as mandated by lawmakers, defying expectations by some traders to cancel or delay the release. .
Brent crude futures fell 70 cents, or 0.81%, to $85.91 a barrel by 0256 GMT, while US crude futures fell 93 cents, or 1.16%, to $79.21 a barrel.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) said after the previous session ended that it would sell 26 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a statement likely to push the reserves to their lowest level since 1983, Reuters reported.
“Energy traders were expecting to hear news of the SPR refill and not tapping them for more supplies,” said Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA.
The Energy Department had considered canceling the sale for fiscal year 2023 after US President Joe Biden’s administration last year sold a record 180 million barrels of reserves. But that would have required Congress to act to change the mandate.
Traders will look for clues from the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for January. US monthly consumer prices have increased in the past two months instead of declining as previously expected, raising the risk of higher inflation readings in the coming months.
“Any higher-than-expected data could cause renewed selling of risky assets, including oil,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng.
Concerns about supplies eased after the Energy Information Administration said it expected record production in March from the seven largest shale basins in the United States. Elsewhere, crude oil exports have resumed at a major Turkish port after a devastating earthquake hit the region.
“Oil is on the defensive and could get worse if inflation proves to be difficult to tame,” said Moya of OANDA.
Rial