US taps strategic oil reserve to drive down prices. How quotations react

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to use the U.S. strategic oil reserve to ease the rise in hydrocarbon prices, which jumped sharply amid the war with Iran. Trump said this in an interview with WKRC TV channel. The president's statement followed the International Energy Agency's decision to release record reserves of crude.

"We'll do it - and then we'll fill it up again," Trump said in the interview. - I've already filled it up once and I'll fill it up again. But right now, we're going to reduce inventory a little bit, and that's going to bring prices down."

Trump did not specify exactly how much oil he intends to release from the reserve. Political pressure is mounting on the president because of rising fuel prices caused by the jump in oil prices, Bloomberg said. The outcome of the midterm elections in November will largely depend on how Americans assess the cost of living, and polls show that voters do not rate the president's actions in the economy highly, the agency writes.

The IEA decision and Trump's words did not help to slow down the growth of oil prices in trading on March 11. At the time of publication of this material, the international benchmark Brent appreciated by 6.7%, reaching 93.7 per barrel - this is the maximum for the day.

U.S. WTI crude oil was adding 4.6% at $87.25, although that was about 2% below the day's high price.

Futures on U.S. stock indices declined in extended trading. Contracts for the "technological" Nasdaq fell the least - by 0.14%. The strongest - on the index of "blue chips" Dow Jones - by 0.8%.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve now holds about 415 million barrels - a little more than half of its total capacity of 713.5 million barrels, Bloomberg writes. The reserve shrank after a series of sell-offs by the Biden administration. Among them was a record sale of 180 million barrels, designed to reduce gasoline prices after February 2022.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy's website, the reserve is theoretically capable of supplying the market with about 4.4 million barrels per day. Once the president orders a sale, it takes 13 days for oil from that system to reach the open market. However, an analysis prepared by the Department of Energy in 2016 said the actual volume the reserve is capable of dispensing could be limited to a range of 1.4 million to 2.1 million barrels per day. At the time of the 2022 reserve drawdown, supplies will never exceed 1.1 million barrels per day, according to ClearView Energy Partners' analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

Also on Wednesday, the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels from strategic oil reserves, the largest such move in history. Governments are trying to contain price spikes caused by war in the Middle East.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor