Oil prices are falling on Tuesday on a report by Bloomberg that the U.S. plans to sell additional amounts of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
According to the agency, the USA intends to sell 26 million barrels of oil from SPR in the period from April to June this year.
April Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $86.01 a barrel by 7:10 a.m. Tuesday, down $0.6 (0.69%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $0.22 (0.3%) to $86.61 a barrel on Monday.
The price of WTI futures for March crude oil at electronic trades of NYMEX fell by $0.87, to $79.27 per barrel by that time. At the end of previous session the contracts value grew by $0.42 (0.5%) up to $80.14 per barrel.
The previous day the oil market grew due to signals of an increase in business activity in China, while Russia announced a cut in its production. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday that the country intended to reduce oil production by 500,000 bpd in March.
Traders’ attention on Tuesday will be focused on U.S. inflation data for January, which will allow investors to make new forecasts about future Federal Reserve policy and the prospects of the American economy, Market Watch notes.
