Amid rising prices and supply crisis in the global oil market due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has decided to release 400 million (40 crore) barrels of oil from emergency reserves. Which is considered to be the biggest release ever by the agency.
India, as a member country of the IEA, welcomed the decision to release emergency oil to address concerns in global oil markets. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in its statement that as an associate member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and an active participant in international energy cooperation, India welcomes the decision of the IEA to release emergency oil reserves amid the current disruptions in supply.
keep a close eye on the situation
The statement further said that the Indian government is closely monitoring the situation in the global energy markets, especially the Middle East. It was also said that New Delhi, in line with the efforts of the IEA, is ready to take appropriate measures as needed to support global market stability.
Big decision of IEA
In fact, amidst the ongoing tension in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday (March 11) decided to release the largest amount of emergency oil reserves for the first time in its history. Its purpose is to counter the effects on the energy market due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
400 million barrels of oil
This Paris-based organization said that it will make 400 million barrels of oil available in the market from the emergency reserves of its member countries. This quantity is much more than the 182.7 million barrels of oil released in 2022. At that time, oil was released to stabilize the energy market after Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine.
What the IEA Executive Director said
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said that due to lack of adequate routes to the market and less storage space, oil producers in the Middle East have started reducing production. Birol said ‘the challenges we face in the oil market are massive’. IEA member countries have responded with emergency collective action of unprecedented size.
Birol said the decision was taken unanimously, but he did not provide any information about the pace, duration and location of the planned fuel release. These details will be important for energy markets. The IEA’s proposal to release oil reserves was approved by its 32 member countries, with the G7 countries supporting the release of 400 million barrels of oil.
This comes at a time when most of the G7 countries along with Germany, Japan and Australia have announced that they will start using their oil reserves to deal with the current oil crisis. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi supported the decision and said that her country has “decided to play a leading role in easing supply and demand conditions in the global energy market by releasing reserves from the 16th of this month itself.” The barrel will release fuel.