Oil prices fell around 1 percent on Tuesday after the U.S. government announced it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at a time when U.S. crude markets are flush with supply.
Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.7 percent to $86.01 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 1.1 percent at $79.28.
The U.S. crude reserve release was a surprise as traders were expecting that the release could be cancelled or delayed.
The Biden administration will release another 26 million barrels to the market from April 1st to June 30th, which will take the number of barrels in the reserve to it is lowest level since 1983 - according to international media outlets. Investors also awaited speeches from top Federal Reserve officials and the all-important U.S. consumer price data for January due later in the day for further clarity on the Federal Reserve's rate-hike path.
A hotter-than-expected CPI reading could force the Fed into a more aggressive posture. That could lead the world's largest economy into a recession and curtail oil demand.
Supply concerns were also relieved somewhat after a cargo of Azeri crude set sail from Turkey's Ceyhan port on Monday, the first since a devastating earthquake in the region on Feb. 6.
