Oil prices drop as US moves to crash price

Oil prices fell more than 5% on Monday to the lowest in nearly two weeks following the announcement from the United States government that it will release 180 million barrels of oil over six months.

Also, a pandemic-linked travel ban in China has also cast doubt on demand.

Data shows that on Thursday, Brent the international oil benchmark fell $5.77, or 5.1%, to settle at $106.90 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $6.32, or 5.8%, to settle at $103.01.

Both benchmarks have surged since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and are up roughly 36% so far this year.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has another chance to boost is oil revenue as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Thursday agreed to lift the group’s production by another 432,000 barrels per day in May.

The 32,000 barrels per day above the originally agreed to a quota of 400,000 barrels per day is due to shifting baselines of five of its members.

Saudi Arabia’s production quota has been lifted to 10.549 million barrels per day, with Russia’s quota lifted by the same amount. The UAE’s quota is 3.04 million barrels per day, Kuwait’s is 2.694 barrels per day, and Iraq’s is 4.461 million barrels per day.

OPEC+ has ignored calls from several other countries—including the United States—to boost production by more than planned as high gasoline prices weigh heavily on consumers.