325m barrels released from oil reserves since March - IEA
· RTE.ieThe International Energy Agency has said that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March.
The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.
The G7 did not say whether the 100 million barrels included the outstanding 75 million barrels from the March IEA commitment, or came on top of that.
The Trump administration has been pressuring allies to release diesel reserves to ease a spike in prices for the fuel, being felt in the US and elsewhere.
Restricted diesel supplies is one of the consequences of the war in the Middle East, where Iran has been throttling ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.
Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, part of the fightback against Russia's strikes, have also affected the market.
The IEA said in a statement that "around 325 million barrels of the IEA collective action announced on 11 March have so far been released, representing over 80% of the 400 million barrels originally pledged in the action".
The March pledge was offered up by the IEA's 32 member countries, a grouping that includes all the G7 nations of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The G7 countries yesterday agreed to release over the next four months 100 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products, "including a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days".
They also said there would be no ban on diesel exports between them - heading off a threat Washington had brandished, and which US President Donald Trump later said would not be enacted.