March 10 (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history to restrain soaring crude prices amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with the matter.
The release would exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member nations put on the market in two releases in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper said.
The IEA called an extraordinary meeting of members on Tuesday, with nations expected to decide on the proposal the following day, the paper added.
The plan would be adopted if there were no objections, it said, but protests by even one country could delay the effort.
On Tuesday, G7 energy ministers stopped short of agreeing on a release of strategic oil reserves, asking the IEA to assess the situation instead.
“Although no country currently faces a physical shortage of crude, prices are rising sharply, and leaving the situation unattended is not an option,” a G7 source told Reuters.
“G7 countries are generally supportive of an IEA coordinated oil stock release,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
However, the actual release cannot start immediately because decisions on aspects such as total volume, country allocations, and timing require further discussion, the source said.
“The IEA secretariat is expected to propose scenarios, based on expected market impact, and outreach may extend to non-IEA members like China and India.”
U.S. crude and Brent crude futures dropped after the Wall Street Journal report. [O/R]
The IEA and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Benchmark oil prices lost ground on Tuesday, following the previous day’s surge to almost four-year highs, after U.S. President Donald Trump predicted the war in the Middle East could end soon.
(Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City and Makiko Yamazaki in Tokyo; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Tom Hogue and Clarence Fernandez)
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