Biden announced the largest "dump" ever, U.S. oil plunged 7% once through the 100 mark

Thursday (Mar. 31) Brent oil futures fell $5.54 to settle at $107.91 per barrel. Both major indicator crudes posted their biggest quarterly percentage gains since the second quarter of 2020, with Brent crude and U.S. crude futures surging 38% and 34%, respectively. Earlier President Joe Biden said the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of crude oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months starting in May. He also added that allies and partners may also release 30 to 50 million barrels of crude oil. Such a large scale of the sell-off has put oil prices under enormous pressure.

The White House said in a statement that the total size and duration of this SPR release is unprecedented: "Never before has the world released government oil reserves at an average rate of 1 million barrels per day for such a long period of time." The record dump will serve as a bridge transition in a time of crisis until the end of the year when U.S. domestic oil production increases while "immediately pushing up global oil supplies." The White House also criticized domestic oil companies in a statement for not ramping up production faster and called on Congress to enact legislation to make companies that have not exploited idle wells for years pay.