IEA director: Over 80% of emergency oil reserves are already on the market

More than 80% of the emergency oil reserves promised by the member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in March are already on the market, the agency’s executive director, Fatih Birol, announced on Friday.

According to Birol, around 325 million barrels of the 400 million barrels initially promised have been released so far. The measure was taken to ease the supply disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

Birol warned that global energy markets continue to face great pressure, especially for oil supplies. According to the IEA, Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have also added pressure on the market, limiting supplies and pushing prices up.

In March, the IEA agreed to release 400 million barrels, in what it described as the largest coordinated emergency-reserves operation in its history.

Meanwhile, the G7 countries have agreed to release a further 100 million barrels of oil and fuels from emergency reserves over a four-month period. A considerable part of this volume is expected to reach the market within the first 20 days.

The G7 has also agreed to coordinate refinery maintenance and to avoid energy export restrictions among member countries. The IEA has been asked to monitor the implementation of the measures and to report on their impact within 20 days.