Oil settles down on lower U.S. consumer confidence, coming SPR release | Reuters

Oil settles down on lower U.S. consumer confidence, coming SPR release | Reuters

Oil prices reversed early gains and settled lower on Tuesday, as investors worried about lower consumer confidence and braced for another 20 million barrels of crude oil to be released from the U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Brent crude futures fell 75 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $104.40. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.72 cents, or 1.8%, to $94.98.

The Biden administration said it will sell an additional 20 million barrels of SPR crude oil as part of a previous plan to tap the facility to calm oil prices boosted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and recovery in demand that cratered early in the pandemic.

In late March, the administration said it would release a record 1 million barrels per day of SPR crude oil for six months. read more

"The market reacts to these SPR announcement and has helped keep a lid on things, to an extent," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

U.S. consumer confidence dropped to nearly a 1-1/2-year low in July on nagging worries about inflation and rising interest rates, a Conference Board survey showed. read more It also showed consumers were less optimistic about the labor market.