Based in Paris, the organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves.
By Catholics for Catholics
To offset the consequences the war in the Middle East is having on the markets, the International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history.
Based in Paris, the organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves. It’s a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA’s 32 member countries in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Newsmax.
“Without sufficient routes to market and with no more available storage, Middle East oil producers have started to reduce production,” IEA executive director Fatih 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 currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf, deteriorating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount.
Effectively halting cargo traffic in the narrow Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean, Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations. The goal of Iran is to produce enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.
Iran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel as its forces hit merchant ships in the Gulf. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s https://t.co/rYini96IOL pic.twitter.com/ACPraRaBju
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 11, 2026
Countries like Germany and Austria said on Wednesday they would release parts of their oil reserves following an IEA request for members to release the record 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war. Japan also said it will let go of some of its reserves starting Monday.
Previously IEA nations have released emergency stocks on five instances: During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during the Libyan civil war in 2011, and twice after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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