The member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA) will release 60 million barrels from strategic oil reserves to counter the high oil prices. Due to the war in Ukraine, oil prices have risen to their highest level since 2014, amid concerns that Russian oil supplies will be hit by harsh Western sanctions against Russia.
The news about the release of oil reserves by the IEA countries had no effect on prices, as they rose further on Tuesday afternoon. The price of a barrel of American WTI oil (of 159 liters) rose by 8.5 percent to $104.21. Brent oil, the benchmark for oil from the Middle East, Europe and Africa, cost nearly 8 percent more at $105.65 a barrel.
The IEA has thirty member states, including the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and also Belgium. According to the Japanese industry minister, the US will account for 30 million barrels. It is the first time since the Libyan uprising in 2011 that the countries of the IEA have come up with a coordinated release of strategic stocks. At the end of December, the IEA member states had stocks of more than 4.1 billion barrels of oil. Of this, 1.5 billion barrels are held by governments as strategic reserves.
In November last year, the US already called on strategic stocks in order to keep the high fuel prices down. Stocks were also released after severe Hurricane Ida last year to prevent fuel shortages. The US’s strategic stockpiles are more than 600 million barrels stored underground for emergencies in the states of Texas and Louisiana.
Oil cartel OPEC and allies like Russia will meet on Wednesday about production, which is currently being gradually increased every month. OPEC+ is not expected to turn on the oil tap any further to push prices down.
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