Oil Falls as US Looks to Sell More Supply From Strategic Reserve

By Bloomberg

Feb 13, 2023

image is BloomburgMedia_RPZQ9AT1UM0W01_13-02-2023_21-37-18_638118432000000000.jpg

A worker walks along an access platform at the Comprehensive Gas Treatment Unit No.3 of the Gazprom PJSC Chayandinskoye oil, gas and condensate field, a resource base for the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, in the Lensk district of the Sakha Republic, Russia, on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Amid record daily swings of as much as 40% in European gas prices, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a calculated intervention to cool the market last week by saying Gazprom can boost supplies to help ease shortages.

(Bloomberg) -- Oil fell after the close of the regular trading session on a Bloomberg News report that the US plans to sell more crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, adding supplies to an already-glutted market.

The US is looking to sell 26 million more barrels from the reserve, with deliveries taking places between April and June. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark for crude, fell 1% to trade near $79 a barrel after the announcement on Monday.

Read More: US to Sell 26 Million More Barrels From Strategic Crude Reserve

The non-emergency sale from the SPR was mandated by 2015 legislation, and the Energy Department had sought to stop some of those releases to refill the emergency reserve. Some market participants had expected this scheduled sale to be canceled or pushed later into the year, said Scott Shelton, an energy specialist at ICAP.

Crude has had a bumpy start to 2023, bouncing within a band of about $10, as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to roil the energy market. On the demand side, the outlook is bolstered by China’s emergence from Covid curbs, but restrained by investors’ concerns that higher US interest rates will provoke a recession.

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By Julia Fanzeres, Immanual John Milton , Natalia Kniazhevich