Release of oil reserves

The International Energy Agency has agreed to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East.

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The Paris-based organisation said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members' emergency reserves.

It's a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA's 32 member countries in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

IEA executive director, Fatih Birol, said: "Without sufficient routes to market and with no more available storage, Middle East oil producers have started to reduce production. And we have seen further attacks and damage to energy and energy-related infrastructure. Refinery operations have also been disrupted, with major implications for jet fuel and diesel supplies in particular."