New Delhi, March 12: The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday announced the release of 400 million barrels of oil from the emergency reserves of its 32 member countries to address supply disruptions in global oil markets amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.
The emergency stocks will be released to the market based on the national circumstances of each member country and will be supplemented by additional emergency measures by some governments.
IEA member countries collectively hold more than 1.2 billion barrels in emergency reserves, along with around 600 million barrels of industry stocks maintained under government obligations.
This coordinated action marks the sixth such intervention since the IEA’s establishment in 1974. Previous collective releases took place during the 1991 Gulf War, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during the 2011 Libya crisis, and twice in 2022 amid global energy market disruptions.
According to the agency, the decision followed an extraordinary meeting of member governments convened by IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol to review market conditions and assess supply risks arising from the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Birol said the current oil market challenges are unprecedented in scale and require coordinated global action, adding that energy security remains the core mandate of the IEA.
The conflict in the Middle East, which began on February 28, has severely disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, with exports of crude and refined products falling to less than 10% of pre-conflict levels.
In 2025, about 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products transited through the Strait, accounting for roughly 25% of global seaborne oil trade. The IEA noted that alternative routes to bypass the strategic chokepoint remain limited.
