60 Million Barrels Enter The Market to Contain Oil Prices

On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to place 60 million barrels of crude oil on the market to try to contain the increase in international prices.

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As part of this policy, President Joe Biden authorized the release of 30 million barrels of crude from the U.S. strategic reserves.

“We are prepared to use all the tools at our disposal to limit the global energy supply disruption resulting from the actions of President Vladimir Putin,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Stored in underground caverns located in the south of the country, the U.S. strategic reserves are the largest in the world and reach 600 million barrels. They were created in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo that raised prices and hurt the U.S. economy.

The goal of the U.S. strategic reserves is to prevent future interruptions in the oil supply and to serve as a "foreign policy tool," as the Department of Energy admits.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict could affect prices in the United States, a country submerged in an inflation not seen for decades. The biggest impact of the oil price shock, however, could occur in the European Union, which buys 41 percent of its natural gas from Russia and also depends on that country for crude supplies.

Over the last 24 hours, the price of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), which operates as a reference price in Latin American countries such as Ecuador, increased by 11 percent and exceeded US$106. This price level had not been seen since 2011.