The International Energy Agency said recently its member countries would unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves -- the biggest such release ever -- to ease the impact of the Middle East war.
"The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale, therefore I am very glad that IEA member countries have responded with an emergency collective action of unprecedented size," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement.
The IEA says the emergency stocks will be made available to the market over a "timeframe that is appropriate to the national circumstances" of each member country.
It is the sixth time the IEA has approved a coordinated release of oil stocks, having previously done so in 1991, 2005, 2011, and twice in 2022, it says.
It adds that its members hold emergency stockpiles of more than 1.2 billion barrels, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
