A maze of crude oil pipes and valves are pictured during a Department of Energy visit to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard Carson/

HOUSTON, April 8 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose slightly in choppy trade on Friday but remained on course for a second weekly decline after countries announced plans to release crude from strategic stockpiles.

Brent crude futures were up 66 cents, or 0.66%, at $101.24 a barrel as of 1:06 p.m. ET (1706 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 78 cents to $96.81.

Both contracts are set to fall for a second consecutive week, with Brent on track for a 3% decline and WTI for a 2.5% decline. Benchmarks are the most volatile since June 2020 in weeks.

International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries will release 60 million barrels over the next six months, with the United States matching that amount as part of its 180 million barrel release announced in March. Read more

“There’s a concern that by artificially lowering prices, you’re just increasing demand and that’s depleting that supply quite quickly,” said Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn.

The release could also deter producers, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and U.S. shale producers, from accelerating production increases even with oil prices around $100 a barrel, it said. said analysts at ANZ Research in a note.

The OPEC+ group of oil-exporting countries’ commitment to production targets has helped absorb excess supply in the market, the Iraqi state news agency said on Friday, citing the Oil Ministry. Read more

PVM analyst Stephen Brennock, meanwhile, questioned the impact of the release of reserves.

“Despite these unprecedented volumes, doubts remain as to whether this inflow of supply will solve the shortage of Russian crude,” he said.

JPMorgan expects the release of reserves will “do a lot in the short term” to offset the million barrels per day of Russian oil supply it expects to remain permanently offline.

“However, looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, global producers will likely need to increase investment to both fill the supply gap the size of Russia and replenish IEA strategic reserves,” he said. the bank said in a note.

The release of safety stocks also weakened the physical markets.

“The optics of a bearish physical market have been bearish for prices,” said Scott Shelton, energy specialist at United ICAP.

U.S. producers added 13 oil rigs in the week to April 8, according to data from oil services firm Baker Hughes, marking a third straight week of gains.

While Russia has found Asian buyers, Western buyers have shunned shipments since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Friday that what it calls Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine could end in the “foreseeable future” as its objectives were met and work was carried out by both the Russian military and Russian peace negotiators. Read more

Russian production of oil and gas condensates fell to 10.52 million barrels per day (bpd) from April 1-6, from an average of 11.01 million bpd in March, two sources told Reuters on Thursday. close to the data.

The US Congress voted to ban Russian oil on Thursday, while the European Union is considering a ban. Read more

Germany may be able to end Russian oil imports this year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said. Read more

But demand uncertainties restrained prices on Friday after Shanghai extended its lockdown to deal with rapidly rising COVID-19 infections. Read more

Further pressure came from the strengthening of the US dollar, after signals that the US Federal Reserve could raise the federal funds rate by another 3 percentage points by the end of the year. Read more

Additional reporting by Rowena Edwards in London, Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Muyu Xu in Beijing; Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan, Andrea Ricci and Mark Porter

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