The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil for May delivery ended yesterday on the London futures market down sharply by 5.23%, to $107.42.

North Sea crude, the benchmark in Europe, ended the session on International Exchange Futures at $5.93, down from $113.35 at the close of trading on Wednesday.

The Brent crude price retreated after the US announced that it would release one million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves per day over the next six months.

Washington, which in recent months has put pressure on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase its production, took this unprecedented step with the aim of raising supply levels in the market and seeking to contain prices.

In total, the US will release about 180 million barrels of the 600 million in its strategic reserves, which were created in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo.

OPEC and its allies, including the Russian Federation, together in the group called OPEC+, agreed today to maintain the gradual pace of production increases, deciding to increase production by 432,000 barrels per day in May.

Source: Lusa