Japan and Germany have announced their decision to release oil reserves. Tokyo said it would begin release by March 16. This came following International Energy Agency’s set 400 million barrels of oil will be released.
Reuters quoted Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche saying that the country will partially release its oil reserves.
“The situation regarding oil supplies is tense, as the Strait of Hormuz is currently virtually impassable," she said while adding that the United States and Japan would be the largest contributors to the release of the oil reserves.
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According to a statement from the ministry, Germany will contribute 2.64 million tonnes of oil.
This comes after the International Energy Agency on Wednesday recommended the release of 400 million barrels of oil from stockpiles, which is the largest in IEA history.
“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.
According to a statement by the IEA, “The 32-member countries of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed today to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market to address disruptions in oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East."
NBC News quoted the IEA saying that collectively, member countries hold emergency stockpiles of more than 1.2 billion barrels.
On Tuesday, the G7 energy ministers had held a virtual meeting to discuss a possible release of oil reserves to address the supply disruption triggered by the Iran war.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
