By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Friday morning in Asia, steadying after the previous volatile session, with a coordinated release of official crude reserves from stocks by key oil producers on the books.

The price of oil rose 0.65% to $81.77 at 11:18 ET (11:18 GMT) and climbed back above the $80-mark. It also rose by 0.70%, to $78.96. Brent and WTI Futures have both been in decline for the fourth week.

According to Reuters, investors continued to digest the U.S. request that China and Japan join the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. To curb rising gasoline prices, President Joe Biden is being increasingly challenged by calls for the release of supply from SPR.

It is generally viewed as a move by the U.S. to counter the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus its allies (OPEC+), that is continuing to follow its plan of a gradual rise in supply. OPEC+’s restraint on production comes even as prices have recovered from levels in early 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investors also digested data showing that Saudi Arabia’s oil exports hit an eight-month high in September.

“The market remains fundamentally tight and any volumes released are unlikely to substantially alter the global balance,” Fitch Solutions commodities analysts said in a note.

“As such, we expect any downside to prices to be limited in both scale and duration,” the note added.