The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its 32 member countries have agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, the largest coordinated stock release in the agency’s history, as the war in the Middle East continues to disrupt global supply.
The International Energy Agency said the decision was made unanimously at an extraordinary meeting Tuesday convened to assess market conditions and consider options for addressing the supply shock.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the scale of the market disruption was without precedent. “The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale,” Birol said, adding that the coordinated move reflected the agency’s core energy security mandate.
The agency said the emergency stocks will be released on a timetable suited to each member country’s national circumstances, with some countries also taking additional emergency measures.
According to the IEA, the conflict, which began Feb. 28, has sharply reduced oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Export volumes of crude and refined products are running at less than 10% of pre-conflict levels, forcing operators in the region to shut in or reduce production.
In 2025, about 20 million barrels a day of crude oil and oil products moved through the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade, the agency said. It added that alternatives for bypassing the waterway are limited.
IEA members hold more than 1.2 billion barrels in emergency reserves, with another 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation. The latest move is the sixth coordinated stock release since the agency was founded in 1974. Previous collective actions came in 1991, 2005, 2011 and twice in 2022.
The IEA said it will provide further details on how the release will be carried out and will continue monitoring oil and gas markets while advising member governments as needed.
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