By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down Thursday morning in Asia, continuing the previous session’s downward trend. U.S. oil was under severe pressure following reports that the U.S. asked oil majors, such as Japan and China, to reconsider a to reduce sky-high oil prices.

After sliding 2.6%, the closing price of $79.90 was down 0.4% to $79.90 at 23:14 PET (4:14 GMT) Following a 3% drop overnight, it fell 0.7% to $76.96.

This U.S. action comes at a time when rising energy prices led to record-breaking inflation in October. The global economic recovery continues from COVID-19.

The U.S. government could order the release of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, (SPR), which would be a powerful political signal.” Citigroup Analysts from the NYSE stated this in a note.

It stated, “But… domestic refineries won’t get an additional benefit because light-end yields seem to have been maxed out.” U.S. producers also have faced criticism from investors because they took on debt to buy new drills. This has led them to avoid over-drilling.

Oil rose to seven year highs in October due to higher fuel demand. COVID-19 lockdowns were lifted. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), and allies (“OPEC+”) increased oil supply slowly.

Recently, the International Energy Agency (OPEC) and OPEC indicated that there will be more supply in the next few weeks. OPEC+ has been sticking to its commitment to increase production by 400,000 bpd every month.

Meanwhile, the draw was 2.101,000,000 barrels in week ended Nov. 12. Investing.com forecasts a 1.398 million barrel build. A 1.001-million barrel build was recorded during the week before.

The day before, the build was 655,000 barrels.