Before offsetting some losses, oil prices fell to the lowest level in six weeks today, after China said it was moving to pull out of the reserve, following a Reuters report that the United States had asked major oil consumers to study a coordinated withdrawal from the strategic reserve in an effort to reduce prices.

The American attempt to calm markets, the first time the United States has asked China to join a coordinated move, comes as an angry political backlash begins due to inflationary pressures driven in part by rising energy prices.

With the market focused on the rapid rise in demand that coincided with the lifting of closures and the recovery of economies, prices reached their highest level in seven years last month in the face of a slow increase in supplies from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in the so-called "OPEC" cluster.

The International Energy Agency and OPEC have said in the past few weeks that more supplies will be available in the next several months. OPEC maintains an agreement to increase production by 400,000 barrels per month so that the market will not be flooded with supplies.