IEA says 'emergency stocks of oil will soon start flowing to global markets'

The International Energy Agency on Sunday said its member countries in Asia and Oceania plan to release emergency stocks of oil “immediately” and that reserves from Europe and the Americas “will be made available starting from the end of March”. “This emergency collective action, by far the largest ever, provides a significant and welcome buffer,” it said in a statement. The Paris-based agency is helping to coordinate the international effort to lower prices. The IEA announced Wednesday that it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from members' emergency reserves — more than double the 182.7 million barrels that the IEA's 32 countries released in 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The IEA's update on Sunday said its members have so far committed to making available a total of nearly 412 million barrels from government, industry and other stocks — of which 72% will be crude oil and the rest as oil products.