Oil prices drop as US announces massive crude reserve release

NEW YORK – Oil prices dropped on Thursday as the United States announced a record release from the nation’s crude reserves.

The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery lost USD7.54, or 7 percent, to settle at USD100.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for May delivery decreased USD5.54, or 4.9 percent, to close at USD107.91 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The administration of US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that 1 million barrels of oil per day will be released for the next six months from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time,” the White House said.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, on Thursday decided to stick to existing plans for modest oil production increases in May despite surging crude prices.

The oil alliance reconfirmed “the decision to adjust upward the monthly overall production by 432,000 barrels per day for the month of May 2022,” according to a statement released after the 27th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting. (Xinhua)