IEA to release 60M bbls of crude from Strategic Petroleum Reserves

Oil

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced it will co-ordinate a release of 60M bbls of crude oil from strategic reserves following supply concerns as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to Argus, 30M bbls of this will be provided by the US, who is already currently in the process of releasing 40M bbls of crude from its reserves as part of a combined effort with other major oil-consuming countries to ease global oil prices. The 31 member countries hold a combined 1.5B bbls of emergency stockpiles, and this is only the fourth time that the IEA has a undertaken a coordinated drawdown since it was founded in 1974.

Meanwhile, the OPEC+ has agreed to maintain its current plan of increasing collective crude output by 400K b/d in March, despite calls for a larger hike as global oil prices continue to surge, Reuters reported. The front month contract price for Brent crude oil surpassed $113/bbl earlier today, the highest since 2014.