: U.S. oil futures settle lower, but speculation of SPR refills emerge
U.S. oil futures settled lower on Thursday, down a fifth straight session, but an oil leak that led to a shutdown of the Keystone Pipeline and talk of a potential buyback of oil to refill U.S. reserves helped to limit price losses. The White House said in October that the Biden administration intends to repurchase oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when prices are at or below $67 to $72. U.S. benchmark WTI crude for January delivery CLF23 fell 55 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $71.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. With U.S. prices now within that price band, that “‘Biden SPR put’ is definitely playing a part in the market finding some price support in the low $70 range,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research.
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