Oil prices fell upon settlement on Friday, following the member states of the International Energy Agency agreed to withdraw from… Strategic oil reserves Coinciding with the largest ever withdrawal of reserves in the United States.
The benchmark contracts for Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude lost regarding 13%, in their biggest weekly decline in two years, following US President Joe Biden announced last Thursday the release of oil from emergency stocks.
Brent crude futures settled down 32 cents, or 0.3%, at $104.39 a barrel, according to Archyde.com.
US crude futures fell $1.01, or 1%, to $99.27 a barrel.
The US President announced the withdrawal of one million barrels of oil per day over a period of 6 months, starting in May, which is the largest withdrawal from the US strategic oil reserves.
The OPEC + bloc, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, announced on Thursday its commitment to plans to increase production by 432,000 barrels per day in May, despite Western pressure to increase the quantity.
And US energy companies increased the number of oil and gas rigs for the second week in a row, but the growth in the number of operating rigs is still slow as companies continue to transfer profits to shareholders following a significant increase in oil prices instead of increasing production.
And JP Morgan, in a note, said it kept its price forecast unchanged at $114 a barrel for the second quarter and $101 a barrel in the second half of this year.