The biggest ever! Release 120 million barrels of oil reserves, oil prices fall below $100!

On Wednesday (April 6), the International Energy Agency (IEA) said its member states had agreed to release 120 million barrels of oil reserves
.
Half of that (60 million barrels) came from the United States and the other half from other member states
.
The 60 million barrels are included in the 180 million barrels previously announced by the United States, that is, the size of the oil released by the United States independently is 120 million barrels, and the total global oil release will reach 240 million barrels
.

After the news came out, international oil prices fell sharply, and WTI crude oil fell by $100 / barrel mark
.
As of the close of the day, WTI May crude oil futures closed at $96.
23 / barrel, down 5.
62%; Brent June crude oil futures were priced at $101.
07 per barrel, down 5.
22%.

As of the press release of the oil circle, WIT is priced at $97.
71/barrel and Brent crude is at $102.
8/barrel
.

The oil is expected to be released within six months and follows a U.
S.
timeline, the IEA's largest release in its 47-year history
.
According to IEA data, U.
S.
crude oil reserves currently hold only 568.
3 million barrels of crude oil, the lowest level
since May 2002.
If 180 million barrels of crude oil were released, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve would fall to its lowest level
since 1984.

Western officials hope that as many buyers stop buying oil from Russia, the new supply will provide a buffer
for their economies.
Russia is the world's second-largest crude oil exporter and third-largest oil producer
.
The United States has already imposed sanctions on Russian oil imports, and European countries are debating whether to do
the same.
Europe relies on Russia
for about a quarter of its oil imports.

Analysts are skeptical that the release of reserves will keep prices low for long
.
They argue that putting stored oil on the market sometimes pushes up oil prices because countries will need to buy crude oil to replenish inventories
in the future.

Western officials say the move could buy time for the economy to replace Russian oil with oil
supplies from other regions, mainly the United States and the Middle East.
The Biden administration is counting on U.
S.
oil producers to boost production by the end of the year to fill the supply gap
.