Oil down over Biden’s fuel tax relief pledge

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday after US President Joe Biden pledged "a federal tax holiday" on fuel tax.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $109.28 per barrel at 0657 GMT for a 4.68% decrease after closing the previous session at $114.65 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $104 per barrel at the same time for a 5.04% loss after the previous session closed at $109.52 a barrel.

Biden confirmed that he is considering a federal holiday on gasoline tax, which could save Americans up to $0.184 per gallon.

The US Administration is due to meet with CEOs of major oil corporations later this week to discuss rising oil costs.

In a letter directly addressed to Biden, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said his company "shares concerns over the higher prices that Americans are experiencing."

Wirth assured the Administration that Chevron is doing its part to help address these challenges by increasing capital expenditures to $18 billion in 2022, more than 50% higher than last year.

Russian crude is now flowing to some Asian countries, surpassing Saudi Arabia as the biggest supplier, especially in big consumer countries like China and India while easing supply concerns.

Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become China's largest and India’s second-largest oil supplier, as refiners bought up Russian crude oil offered at a massive discount following the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, according to the latest customs data.

A detailed tracker of Russian oil, gas and coal shipments, and pipeline exports by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) shows that with €12.6 billion ($13.3 billion), China has become the top importer of Russian fossil fuels as of June 3.

Germany follows China with €12.1 billion, Italy with €7.8 billion, the Netherlands with €7.8 billion, Türkiye with €6.7 billion, Poland with €4.4 billion, France with €4.3 billion and India with €3.4 billion.