• WTI crude is down $2 to $105.33 as US traders pick up comments from France’s Le Monde who cited a Presidential source saying a release of strategic reserves “is a matter of weeks, not days”.
  • Yesterday Charles McConnell, assistant secretary for fossil energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, said a release “is being considered.”
  • Earlier in the month, Reuters sources said the US and UK were working towards a simultaneous release of reserves.

The idea behind release reserves is to create a negative shock to prices. If the news leaks months in advance, it won’t have anywhere near the same effect.