Oil seesaws ahead of consumer nations’ meeting on stocks release

Oil seesaws ahead of consumer nations’ meeting on stocks release

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MELBOURNE - Oil prices seesawed on Friday ahead of a meeting of consuming nations to discuss a new release of emergency oil reserves alongside a huge planned release by the United States.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 6 cents to $100.22 a barrel at 0057 GMT after trading as high as $101.75. The contract slumped 7% on Thursday.

Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $104.76 a barrel, after dropping 5.6% on Thursday. The May contract expired on Thursday at $107.91.

The planned U.S. release caused Thursday's falls. On Friday the two benchmark contracts were each headed for a weekly loss of around 13%, their biggest in two years.

International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries are set to meet at 1200 GMT on Friday to discuss a further emergency oil release that would follow their March 1 agreement to release around 60 million barrels.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a release of 1 million barrels per day for six months starting in May. That will be the largest release ever from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The aim is to make up for disrupted oil supplies from Russia, hit by sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its activity