Reuters : The International Energy Agency (IEA) has agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from its members’ strategic reserves, in an attempt to counter soaring global energy prices amid the United States-Israeli war on Iran.
The proposed release is larger than the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member countries released in 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale, therefore I am very glad that IEA member countries have responded with an emergency collective action of unprecedented size,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol in a statement on Wednesday.
“Without sufficient routes to market and with no more available storage, Middle East oil producers have started to reduce production,” Birol said. “And we have seen further attacks and damage to energy and energy-related infrastructure. Refinery operations have also been disrupted, with major implications for jet fuel and diesel supplies in particular.”
IEA member countries hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
Since the US and Israel launched their war on February 28, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for oil produced by Gulf states, by threatening to attack shipping. About a fifth of global oil and gas supplies transit the waterway.
In response to the US and Israeli attacks, Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab states, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the US and Israel to halt the war.
