Oil Prices Drop as IEA Sets Coordinated Reserves Release

For May delivery, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 5.73 U.S. dollars, or 5.6 percent, to settle at 96.23 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery decreased 5.57 dollars, or 5.2 percent, to close at 101.07 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

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The pullback came as IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol tweeted Wednesday that the IEA is moving ahead with a collective oil stock release of 120 million barrels.
   
The release includes 60 million barrels from the United States as part of the country's overall draw from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, said Birol, noting further details will come soon.
   
Oil prices were also pressured by an unexpected rise in U.S. crude stockpiles.
   
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that the nation's crude inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels during the week ending April 1. Analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights had expected the EIA publications to show a fall of more than 1.85 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories.