FX.co ★ Oil Prices Subdued After Emergency Stock Release

Oil prices were subdued on Friday and headed for weekly losses ahead of a meeting of consuming nations to discuss a new release of emergency oil reserves alongside a huge planned release by the United States.

Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.1 percent to $104.65 a barrel and headed for a weekly loss of about 12 percent. U.S. crude futures were down 0.4 percent at $99.92.

The International Energy Agency will hold an emergency meeting today among consuming nations to discuss a new release of strategic reserves alongside the U.S. plan to release one million barrels a day for six months, starting in May.

"The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time," the White House said.

Several members in the Asia Pacific region said they would support the IEA's initiatives to combat the spike in oil prices sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.