BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The 31 Member Countries of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves to send a unified and strong message to global oil markets that there will be no shortfall in supplies as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Trend reports with reference to the IEA.
The ministers noted that the crisis comes against a backdrop of already tight global oil markets, heightened price volatility, commercial inventories that are at their lowest level since 2014, and a limited ability of producers to provide additional supply in the short term.
IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of 1.5 billion barrels. The announcement of an initial release of 60 million barrels, or 4% of those stockpiles, is equivalent to 2 million barrels a day for 30 days. The coordinated drawdown is the fourth in the history of the IEA, which was created in 1974. Previous collective actions were taken in 2011, 2005 and 1991.