IEA Agrees to Release Over 100 Million Barrels of Oil to Lower Petroleum Prices

Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) have supported the decision to release additional oil from emergency reserves to curb rising fuel prices. Fuel costs have surged further following the closure of the Hormuz Strait. According to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, governments of member countries have reiterated their commitment to implementing the collective decision made in March of this year. Under that agreement, member states had consented to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to address supply disruptions caused by the conflict between the US and Israel targeting Iran.

The recent IEA decision follows a warning from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to ban diesel exports from the United States if G7 countries do not supply fuel to the market. On Friday, the G7 nations agreed to release an additional 100 million barrels of oil into the market. Birol, in a statement, noted that about 325 million barrels have been released so far under the agreement. He further explained that the remaining stored oil, which has not yet been introduced to the market, amounts to around 100 million barrels, which will soon be made available.

Birol also stated that some IEA member countries have already released more oil than they initially committed to. According to him, IEA member states still hold substantial publicly owned emergency oil reserves, totaling approximately 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil and over 200 million barrels of diesel.