The International Energy Agency (IEA) will release strategic petroleum reserves on the 11th (local time) to ease the energy crisis caused by the war between the United States and Israel and Iran.
The IEA set the emergency release of reserves at 400 million barrels. It is the first release of strategic reserves in four years and the sixth in history. By volume, it is the largest on record.
The IEA said, "The 32 IEA member countries unanimously agreed today to supply 400 million barrels from each country's emergency reserves to the market to address the oil market disruption caused by the Middle East war."
The strategic reserves to be released will be supplied to the market according to each member state's situation. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has reportedly reduced crude oil and petroleum product exports to less than 10% of pre-conflict levels. Considering past cases, the strategic reserves are expected to be released at 3 million to 5 million barrels per day.
Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, said, "The oil market challenge we face today is unprecedented in scale, and I am very pleased that IEA member countries have responded with an unprecedented emergency collective action."