TOKYO, March 1 — Ministers from International Energy Agency member states are weighing the release of 60 million barrels from oil reserves, two sources familiar with the talks said today, to cool oil prices soaring from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Paris-based IEA, which represents mostly industrialised nations and has coordinated three emergency oil stock releases in the past.
“The rise in oil prices causes concern across the world and this has created a discussion about whether a coordinated release by IEA members of part of the existing strategic reserve would be necessary to stabilise the market,” European Union energy policy chief Kadri Simson said yesterday. The 30-member IEA was founded in 1974 as an energy watchdog, and defines one of its main roles as helping “coordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil”.Last November, the United States announced a release of 50 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move made in concert with oil consuming nations including China, India and Japan.at the time it only responds collectively to major supply disruptions.
“This has got very little to do as yet with physical disruption, it is more about prices. So I will be very surprised if there was an official IEA-led drawdown,” the source added.