Would the release of US strategic oil reserves be a game changer?

The sale of crude oil from the US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not as unusual as some of the media headlines suggest, and the small test release, announced yesterday, is unlikely to have a significant impact on global markets. Indeed, the scale of the SPR is starting to look excessive given the drop in US oil imports. It could certainly be used to dampen the impact of any decrease in exports from Russia.

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