Title: Crude Oil Higher; Coordinated Supply Increase Priced In

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1/19/2021 04:04AM GMT

By: AnalysisWatch

Oil prices continued to rise on Friday, continuing the volatile trading seen recently, as traders bet the market overcompensated for news of a likely release of stockpiles from strategic reserves by some of the world's top consumers.

At 4:05 a.m. ET (0905 GMT), US crude futures were up 0.5 percent at $78.80 a barrel after trading in a range above $2 the previous session, while Brent was up 0.5 percent at $81.64.The Brent contract fell to a six-week low on Thursday before recovering to end a choppy day up 1.2 per cent.

RBOB futures for US gasoline were 0.2% higher at $2.2996 a gallon.

Crude oil saw a sharp sell-off earlier in the week, with both benchmarks hitting their lowest levels since early October, following news that the US had asked China, Japan, and other major buyers to participate in releasing crude stocks from their reserves to curb the price rise.

Both crude benchmarks were at their lowest since early October on Wednesday, after the Biden administration called for a coordinated release of strategic stocks by some of the world's biggest consumers to curb global energy prices.

Since then, however, the market has rebounded, and Goldman Sachs said the news was now fully priced into the market.

The influential investment bank said in a note that the US is likely to sell at least 20 to 30 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with another 30 million barrels likely to come from other countries. However, the price decline since the end of October reflects market expectations of more than 100 million barrels.