- Oil prices extended losses on Thursday after the U.S. announced the possibility of releasing crude from its strategic reserve, and Russia offered to ease Europe’s natural gas crisis
- Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that record volumes of gas could potentially be exported to Europe this year as the region faces an energy crunch
- This could mean there would be less of an incentive for consumers to switch to oil
- The U.S. raised the prospect of releasing crude oil from the SPR, and said that “all tools are on the table,” (Financial Times)
- U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm did not rule out a crude oil export ban and said, “That’s a tool that we have not used, but it is a tool as well,”
- AEGIS notes that the Biden administration has repeatedly complained about raises gasoline prices
- It is “only a matter of time” before OPEC+ accelerates supply increases, especially if oil remains over $80/Bbl, according to Citigroup (Bloomberg)
- The group’s decision to stick with an increase of only 400 MBbl/d for the next month was clearly an effort to maximize short-term revenue as demand escalates and inventories drop, the bank said