US releases Strategic Petroleum Reserve at 1.5 million barrels per day — Wright confirms at CERAWeek Houston

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, appearing at CERAWeek — the oil and gas industry's most important annual conference — in Houston on Monday, confirmed that the United States started releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Friday. The release was projected to reach up to 1.5 million barrels per day as an effort to ease global supply constraints caused by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Wright made the case for the Iran conflict to oil executives, many of whose operations have been severely disrupted: 'This is a conflict that we simply couldn't kick down the road. There are short-term disruptions right now, but to end a multi-decadal problem and lead to a world that's much more peaceful.' Separately, Brent crude fell from $114 earlier Monday to approximately $100 per barrel after Trump's announcement of productive diplomatic talks with Tehran. Oil prices have risen more than 50 percent since late February, a crisis the IEA described as worse than the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks combined.