PARIS (TASS): Countries – members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) decided to release a new batch of oil from their strategic reserves due to market instability. This is stated in a statement made on Friday by the IEA following ministerial talks via videoconference.
“Representatives of 31 IEA countries agreed on Friday to release a new batch of oil from strategic reserves in response to the unstable situation caused by the Russian military operation in Ukraine,” the statement said. They reaffirmed their commitment to stabilize global energy markets. “Details of this agreement will be made public next week,” the IEA said. The organization recalled that in early March, IEA participants agreed to sell a total of 62.7 million barrels of oil from national reserves in order to reduce prices for this resource.
“Today’s agreement will be the fifth in a series of these decisions. Previous measures were agreed in 1991, 2005, 2011 and March 1, 2022,” the agency said in a statement.
The communiqué also states that “the ministers discussed Europe’s significant dependence on Russ-ian natural gas, as well as the need to accelerate global dialogue with gas producing countries, including IEA members, in order to ensure the security of supply.”