IEA to Release 400 Million Barrels of Oil Reserves to Press Price Volatility Following US-Israel Attack on Iran

JAKARTA - The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that its member countries have agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil reserves in an effort to ease the spike in oil prices due to the Israeli-US attack on Iran.

"The oil market challenges we face are unprecedented in scale, which is why I am very pleased that IEA member countries have responded with unprecedented collective emergency action," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press release, Thursday, March 12, quoted from NBC News.

Birol again reminded what his organization was doing today in accordance with its main task of securing global energy supplies and supporting a clean energy transition.

"The oil market is global, so the response to this major disruption must also be global. Energy security is the founding mandate of the IEA, and I am pleased that IEA members have shown strong solidarity in taking decisive action together," he continued.

The IEA is known to have 32 members, mostly developed countries.

The IEA did not set a firm timetable for when the release - the largest ever by IEA countries - would begin.

"The IEA Secretariat will provide further details on how this collective action will be implemented in due course," the IEA press statement read.

The statement then said that IEA members have emergency reserves of more than 1.2 billion barrels, with an additional 600 million barrels of industrial reserves held under government obligations.