(Reuters) – Barclays On Tuesday, LON raised its 2022 oil price predictions. It expects both a quicker-than-expected inventory drawdown than expected and a more cautious response to counter a slight surplus in next year.

Bank raised 2022 average prices by $3 to $80 and $77 respectively, for West Texas Intermediate and WTI.

On Tuesday, oil prices dropped on the news that India, Japan and the United States would release their crude reserves in order to manage prices. This is despite concerns about a faltering market as COVID-19-related cases rage up in Europe.

Barclays predicts that there will be a less deficit in Q4-21, which would turn to surplus in Q1-22. However, Barclays believes that the starting point for inventory building next year could more than make up this difference.

In a note, the bank wrote that they believed Strategic Petroleum Reserves were not sustainable sources of supply. They also felt the market intervention would be only temporary.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the United States will announce Tuesday a loan of $500,000 from its emergency stockpile in an effort to reduce energy costs.

Barclays stated that a persistent COVID-19 spike could pose significant risks for its outlook, as it could affect demand. However, OPEC+ will likely slow down or even halt its tapering of supply curbs to respond to a slowdown in the demand.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, together known as OPEC+, agreed this month to keep to its plans to boost oil output by 400,000 barrels a day (bpd), beginning December.