325 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves released: IEA

PARIS: The International Energy Agency said Saturday that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March.

The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.

The G7 did not say whether the 100 million barrels included the outstanding 75 million barrels from the March IEA commitment, or came on top of that.

The US government of President Donald Trump has been pressuring allies to release diesel reserves to ease a spike in prices for the fuel, being felt in America and elsewhere.

Restricted diesel supplies is one of the consequences of the war in the Middle East, where Iran has been throttling ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.

Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, part of the fightback against Moscow’s strikes, have also affected the market.

The IEA said in a statement on Saturday that “around 325 million barrels of the IEA collective action announced on 11 March have so far been released, representing over 80 percent of the 400 million barrels originally pledged in the action”.

The March pledge was offered up by the IEA’s 32 member countries, a grouping that includes all the G7 nations: of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

The G7 countries on Friday agreed to release over the next four months 100 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products, “including a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days”.

They also said there would be no ban on diesel exports between them – heading off a threat Washington had brandished, and which Trump later said would not be enacted.