(March 3): The International Energy Agency is ready to help stabilise the global oil market in the wake of the Iran conflict, noting that member countries hold over a billion barrels in emergency stockpiles, according to a document prepared by the agency and seen by Bloomberg News.
While oil production in the region remains largely unaffected, flows through the Strait of Hormuz — as well as production of liquefied natural gas — have been “significantly impacted,” the IEA said in the March 2 document.
The agency is due to hold a meeting at 2pm Paris time to discuss the situation in the Middle East, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The agency coordinates global releases of oil inventories during times of market disruption.
While the document does say the IEA can bring additional supply to market when needed, it doesn’t mention any plan to do so and says the market is adequately supplied for now. The organisation has implemented five such releases over the past 35 years: during the 1991 Gulf War, hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the 2011 Libyan uprising and two following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Oil futures jumped above US$85 a barrel for the first time since July 2024 earlier on Tuesday, as the US and Israel stepped up their war against Iran and a fire at a key storage hub in the United Arab Emirates underscored the risk to energy infrastructure.
Spokespeople for the IEA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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The Opec+ alliance agreed a modest production increase on Sunday and top members like Saudi Arabia have bolstered exports, but it wasn’t enough to calm the market. The suspension of shipping through Hormuz in any case limits their ability to remedy the situation.
The IEA’s members consist of 32 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, such as the US, Germany and Japan. They’re obligated to hold stockpiles equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports.
In the US, the Trump administration has no immediate plans to release oil from the nation’s emergency reserve, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.
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