IEA holds meeting to discuss release of emergency stockpiles

10th Mar 2026 15:26

(Sharecast News) - The International Energy Agency on Tuesday convened an extraordinary meeting of its members to discuss whether or not to release emergency stockpiles of crude to alleviate the oil crisis developing as a result of the US-Iran war.

Monday saw the biggest intraday spike in oil prices in history - Brent briefly soared 29% to $119.50 a barrel before settling 7% higher at $98.96 - as the escalating conflict across the Middle East began to disrupt key energy flows, such as crucial Strait of Hormuz route.

In 2025, some 20m barrels of crude and oil products flowed each day through the Strait, a narrow sea passage separating the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.

According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products flowing through the Strait are currently at less than 10% of pre-conflict levels, forcing operators across the Gulf to halt or pull back on production.

A meeting of G7 energy ministers in Paris on Tuesday discussed "all available options", according to IEA executive director Faith Birol, including making the 1.2bn barrels of public emergency oil stocks held by IEA member governments available to the market.

A further 600m of industry stocks are also held under government obligation, the IEA said.

"Given conditions in oil markets, I have convened an extraordinary meeting of IEA Member governments, which will take place later today to assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks of IEA countries available to the market," Birol said in a statement.

"As well as IEA Members, I am also in close contact about the situation with energy ministers from key energy producers and consumers around the world."