Oil prices INCREASE after President Biden announces release of 50 million barrels from the SPR

Greg P. | 10:46 AM on November 23, 2021

As we told you earlier, President Joe Biden authorized the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to “lower the cost of gas and oil for American families”:

Today I'm announcing action to lower the cost of gas and oil for American families.

The Department of Energy will make available releases of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas and oil prices for Americans.

— President Biden (@POTUS) November 23, 2021

But the price of oil has *increased* since his announcement. Whoops:

From OilPrices.com:

Oil prices erased losses and jumped on Tuesday morning following the announcement from the U.S. Administration that it would make available 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to lower said oil prices.

As of 9:27 a.m. EST, WTI Crude prices were back above $77, having erased earlier losses and trading up by 1.30% at $77.75. Brent Crude prices returned to the $80 mark, and were approaching $81, as they had risen by 1.73% to $80.96.

The headline for the oil market on Tuesday morning was the announcement of US President Joe Biden that the Department of Energy would release 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR in a bid to lower high gasoline prices in a coordinated effort with other major oil-consuming nations. The SPR release from the United States is being carried out in parallel with other major energy-consuming nations, including China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom.