New Delhi, March 14 -- The Trump administration started the process of a mammoth drawdown of the US emergency oil reserve, issuing a request to exchange 86 million barrels of crude oil.

Deliveries from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, part of a massive 172 million barrel release announced Wednesday, are expected to begin moving to market by the end of next week, the Energy Department said in a statement Friday.

The release, which is expected to take four months to complete, is part of a 400 million barrel effort coordinated with other nations aimed at lowering crude, gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices that have climbed dramatically since the US-Israel invasion of Iran. The war has brought shipping traffic to a virtual standstill in th...