Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the United States said it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery dropped 1.08 U.S. dollars, or 1.35 percent, to settle at 79.06 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery lost 1.03 dollars, or 1.19 percent, to close at 85.58 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said Monday that it would sell 26 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR, a release that had been mandated by Congress in previous years.
The deliveries of the oil will take place from April 1 through June 30, the DOE said in a statement.