PARIS, March 11 — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recommended a release of 400 million barrels of oil from stockpiles, the largest such move in IEA history, said its executive director Fatih Birol on Wednesday.
Xinhua reported that the 32 member countries unanimously agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil available to the market from their emergency reserves.
Speaking at a media conference, he said that the release would take place over a timeframe appropriate to each member country’s national circumstances.
Birol added that the IEA secretariat will provide further details of how this collective action will be implemented in due course, and that the agency will continue to closely monitor global oil and gas markets.
IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of over 1.2 billion barrels, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
The conflict in West Asia has impeded oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, with export volumes of crude and refined products currently falling to less than 10 per cent of pre-conflict levels.
The move to release emergency oil reserves came ahead of an online meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders, scheduled later in the day, to discuss the economic consequences of the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
The G7 energy ministers, under the French presidency, met via videoconference on Tuesday amid heightened volatility in oil prices. On Monday, the price for Brent crude, the international benchmark, briefly climbed to around US$119 per barrel, its highest level since mid-2022.
In a statement released earlier on Wednesday, the ministers said they support, in principle, the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.
