The US is increasing the pressure on the OPEC economy

To stop the rise in gasoline prices, six large states are throwing some of their oil stocks on the market. The initiative is a success for US President Biden – and a considerable risk.

A group of states under the leadership of the USA wants to stop the rise in gasoline prices and thus inflation rates by selling parts of their oil reserves. As the White House announced on Tuesday, China, Japan, India, South Korea and Great Britain are also involved in the push. The aim is to provide more supply on the world market, it said. The hoped-for drop in price did not materialize for the time being: at just under $ 80, a barrel of North Sea Brent cost only about six dollars less in the afternoon than at the high for the year at the end of October.

There has never been concerted action of this magnitude in the international oil business. Many countries hold a so-called strategic oil reserve in order to be prepared for natural disasters, wars and other crises. It seldom happens that part of the supply is thrown on the market. US President Joe Biden, in particular, is under great pressure at home because of the constant rise in gasoline prices. Repeated demands and threats from Washington to the producer country cartel Opec and Russia to significantly expand production in view of the high demand had not borne fruit in the past few weeks.

According to Washington, the United States alone intends to put 50 million barrels of oil on the market over the next few months. That corresponds to almost eight billion liters. Even during the first Gulf War or the political upheavals in the important producing country Libya in 2011, the United States had not released such amounts.

The fact that Biden succeeded in winning a political competitor such as China for the initiative is a diplomatic success for him and a threatening signal for OPEC. However, the decision also carries risks for the US president, because it is by no means certain that he and his colleagues will succeed in reducing prices noticeably and, above all, permanently. OPEC representatives are already threatening to put their own plans for an expansion of the production volumes on hold.

Germany was apparently not addressed in the context of the action. According to the Ministry of Economics, the local reserves could only be tapped if the International Energy Agency were to initiate such an action in concert.

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