Turkey has been listed among the International Energy Agency (IEA) members that will contribute to the collective action to release crude and oil products from emergency stockpiles to take aim at energy prices that have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine.
On Thursday, the Paris-based organization confirmed that the new commitments made by its member nations amount to a total of 120 million barrels to be released over six months to help cool global oil prices, the largest release in the group's history.
The release of stocks by the U.S.-allied members of the IEA, comprising of 31 mostly industrialized countries but not Russia, would be their second coordinated release in a month and would be the fifth in the agency’s history to confront oil market disruption.
It is the largest release from non-U.S. IEA countries, topping the biggest release by the United States. The United States will match the 60-million-barrel draw tapped by the other IEA countries in its 180-million-barrel draw from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve announced by President Joe Biden in late March.
The U.S. said it would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from its strategic reserves to help cut gas prices and fight inflation across the country.
Over the next six months, the IEA said that around 240 million barrels of emergency oil stocks, the equivalent of well over 1 million barrels per day, will be made available to the global market.
“The unprecedented decision to launch two emergency oil stock releases just a month apart and on a scale larger than anything before in the IEA’s history reflects the determination of member countries to protect the global economy from the social and economic impacts of an oil shock following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
“This latest collective action once again demonstrates the unity of IEA member countries in their solidarity with Ukraine and their determination to provide stability to the oil market during this challenging time,” Birol noted.
“Events in Ukraine are becoming more distressing by the day, and action by the IEA at this time is needed to relieve some of the strains in energy markets.”
Global oil prices were headed for their second weekly drop, with Brent falling about $10 to below $100 a barrel since the U.S. announced its largest-ever oil reserve release in late March.
Prices hit 14-year highs last month as Western sanctions on Russia disrupted crude and oil product exports from the world's number two crude exporter.
Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, with about 60% of exports going to Europe and 20% to China.
The U.S. has banned all Russian energy supplies, while the United Kingdom says it will phase out Russian oil and coal by year's end and halt natural gas imports “as soon as possible.”
The European Union on Thursday approved a ban on Russian coal, its first move against the Russian energy supplies it relies on to generate electricity, power the industry and fill up diesel-powered vehicles and equipment.
According to the list that was made available on Thursday, Japan, the second-biggest contributor after the U.S., said it would release a record 15 million barrels as part of the IEA-led action.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters late Thursday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unforgivable” and the release would help curb oil prices.
“We must not forgive its invasion and war crimes. We will demonstrate our will with severe action,” he said.
Japan held about 470 million barrels of petroleum reserves at the end of January, equivalent to 236 days of domestic consumption, in state reserves, reserves held by refiners and a joint crude oil storage scheme with producing countries.
The IEA list revealed that Turkey would be releasing more than 3 million barrels of crude or oil products. New Zealand said it would also contribute crude and diesel to the release.
“Our release is made up of around 184,000 barrels of crude oil held in Spain and close to 299,000 barrels of diesel held in the United Kingdom,” New Zealand’s minister of energy and resources, Megan Woods, said in a statement.
“There has been a great deal of volatility in global oil markets since the invasion and this further action, coupled with the United States’ move to release 180 million barrels of oil over the next six months, will help to provide some certainty to the market,” Woods said.
Other major contributors include South Korea, Germany, France, Italy and Britain.
At the start of Russia’s invasion, IEA member countries held 1.5 billion barrels in public reserves and about 575 million barrels under obligations with industry, according to the IEA.
Thus, this year, the two IEA collective actions of 62.7 million barrels, which was agreed upon in early March, and 120 million barrels amount to 9% of total emergency reserves.
