(Bloomberg) -- Oil traded below $71 a barrel as the U.S. considers reining in prices by tapping into its emergency crude supplies and Russia signaled that OPEC and its allies could boost output by more than the amount pledged.

Futures in New York were little changed after sliding 3.8 percent last week. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is said to be mulling the release of oil from the nation’s 660-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stabilize rallying gasoline prices. Meanwhile, OPEC and its partners could increase production by more than the 1 million barrels a day agreed last month if needed, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

Crude has retreated as trade tensions between the U.S. and China threatened global demand, after prices hit a three-year high at the end of last month on rising risks of a supply crunch following renewed American sanctions on Iran and sporadic disruptions in Libya. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ Gulf members may need to pump almost as much oil as they can to cover swelling output losses, the International Energy Agency said.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery traded at $70.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 15 cents, at 10:34 a.m. in Seoul. Total volume traded was about 60 percent below the 100-day average. Prices dropped $2.79 to $71.01 last week.

Brent for September settlement lost 14 cents to $75.19 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. Prices fell 2.3 percent last week. The global benchmark crude traded at a $5.43 premium to WTI for September.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heesu Lee in Seoul at hlee425@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net, Ovais Subhani

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