Diesel: International Energy Agency accelerates release of oil reserves

Paris. The International Energy Agency (IEA) wants to implement the access to emergency oil reserves demanded by Germany and the other G7 countries in view of rising fuel prices. The IEA member governments have spoken out in favor of accelerating the release of oil reserves decided in March and completing it as soon as possible, the IEA said after a meeting in Paris. Given the tense situation on the diesel markets, priority should be given to releasing diesel stocks as much as possible.

In March, the IEA decided to release a record amount of 400 million barrels of crude oil from strategic oil reserves in response to the Iran war. Of this, around 325 million barrels have actually been released so far, although some countries have released larger quantities than they had originally promised, the IEA said. Full release of all March commitments that have not yet been released would bring about 100 million barrels to market. This corresponds to the amount requested by the G7.

IEA member governments still have significant public oil emergency reserves of around 1.1 billion barrels, including over 200 million barrels of diesel, the energy agency in Paris said. The IEA is ready to bring additional quantities of these reserves onto the market if necessary.

The G7, which includes Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, the USA, Japan and Canada, demanded at the beginning of October that 100 million barrels of crude oil be released immediately and over four months. The measure is intended to reduce fuel prices.