5% dip in crude as Biden intensifies oil pressure

Oil prices are moving with more than 5% losses, as US President Joe Biden pushes to reduce fuel costs by targeting major US oil companies.

In particular, Brent’s August delivery contract is traded on $ 109.27 the barrel with a drop 4.7% or $ 5.4.

Similarly, the US WTI in August is also falling against 5.1% or $ 5.6 with its price set at $ 103.9 the barrel.

As the United States struggles to curb inflation and rising fuel prices, President Biden is expected to announce today a temporary lifting of the 18.4 cents gallon federal tax on gasoline.

“Even crude traders recognize that higher oil prices and therefore higher gasoline prices are leading to more aggressive action by the Fed on interest rates and that the Biden administration will become more creative on the political and fiscal front to tame the energy inflation beast “, points out Stephen Innes, CEO of SPI Asset Management.

In addition, Biden is waiting for the representatives of seven oil companies tomorrow, Thursday, which he accuses of not taking action to reduce the prices of gasoline as they are making record profits at this stage.

For his part, however, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth argued that criticism of the oil industry was not a way to lower fuel costs.

“These actions are not conducive to addressing the challenges we face,” Wirth said in a letter to Biden, with the US president responding that the oil industry appeared to be “sensitive”.

On the other hand, China received a new shipment of about 2 million barrels of Iranian oil last week, which is probably destined for its security reserves.

This is the fourth such shipment since last December, which is expected to be confirmed by Chinese customs archives, which will release details of the imports in June next month.