Good morning for the Financial Times.

Today is Wednesday, November 24th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

Today, we'll pick apart the Biden Administration's announcement that it will release crude oil

from America's reserves.

Some people have described it as the strategic political reserve as opposed to the strategic

petroleum reserve.

Our US Energy Editor, Derek Brower, explains how the move might have backfired.

An FT video journalist and producer Donnell Newkirk will talk about his documentary on

the music business and how artists navigate the changing industry landscape.

I'm Joanna Gow, in for Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

Yesterday, the US government said it will authorize the release of 50 million barrels of crude

oil from the country's strategic petroleum reserve, or SPR.

That's the equivalent of about two and a half days worth of US oil consumption.

The White House said that the goal is to bring down fuel prices, but oil prices actually ended

up higher. The FT's US Energy Editor, Derek Brower, says commodities markets knew this was coming

and weren't impressed.

All in all, the market looked at this and thought, ah, that's not a huge amount compared to what

we were expecting. And anyway, in a couple of weeks time, OPEC, which the US administration has

been asking to increase supply, may decide to do the opposite, may withhold some planned increases,

or may even cut some analysts believe. And so, when you factor all those things in,

the impact on prices was not quite what the administration hoped, prices have risen, not come down.

So, Derek, is this a blunder on the part of the White House? Did it miscalculate the oil market?

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