Oil stocks fell in premarket trading as oil prices dived as U.S. weighs record reserves release. Occidental, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP between 1% and 3%.
Oil prices plunged more than $5 a barrel on Thursday on news the United States was considering the release of up to 180 million barrels from its strategic petroleum reserve, the largest in the near 50-year history of the SPR.
The Biden administration is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), four U.S. sources said on Wednesday, as the White House tries to lower fuel prices.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries are set to meet on Friday at 1200 GMT to decide on a collective oil release, a spokesperson for New Zealand energy minister said in an email on Thursday.
"The amount of the potential collective release has not been decided," the spokesperson for minister Megan Woods added. "That meeting will set a total volume, and per country allocations will follow," she said.
It is unclear if the U.S. SPR draw would be part of a wider global coordinated release.
The IEA did not respond to a request for comment outside office hours. President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Thursday on his administration's actions, the White House said.