It is a rare decision. The United States will use 50 million barrels of oil taken from its strategic reserves to try to bring down sharply rising gasoline prices, the White House announced on Tuesday, November 23.
This operation is being done in consultation with other states that are large consumers of black gold, in particular China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, according to a press release. By increasing the supply, the United States and the other States hope to automatically lower prices. In the wake of these announcements, Brent lost 1.3% while WTI lost 1.8%.
In the past, Washington has authorized three times the emergency release of oil from the strategic reserve – the most recent dates back to 2011, when the “Arab Spring” broke out in Libya, a member country of the Organization. of the oil-exporting countries (OPEC).
Urge OPEC to increase production
The White House has repeatedly urged OPEC to step up its production ramp-up. The cartel, allied with Russia and nine other producing countries under an agreement to voluntarily limit its production of black gold, still leaves more than 4 million barrels underground every day.
However, while an OPEC meeting is scheduled for December 2, the United States has failed to convince the organization and its allies. The latter highlight the absence of an oil shortage and have confirmed that they will raise their production by 400,000 barrels per day, no more.
The use of strategic reserves could, however, provoke a reaction from OPEC + members, which could consequently slow down the gradual increase in their production, according to some analysts.
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