Oil prices were choppy last week, but as of this writing, have so far failed to break out of last week’s trading range. Further to that end, the oil market was strong in the early part of the week, but came under selling pressure on Thursday as news of China releasing oil from its strategic reserve (SPR) hit the wires. Ironically, the move comes on the heels of President Biden indicating he was also considering releasing crude oil from the US strategic reserve in the wake of Hurricane Ida in addition to pleading with OPEC+ to pump more oil in the weeks before the storm. In the end, a US release made no sense as a significant portion of refining capacity was also knocked offline along with crude production. Nonetheless, the move by China, the world’s biggest crude oil and commodity importer, was no doubt designed to ease upward […]