IEA members could release more oil stocks ‘as and if needed,’ agency chief says

High global oil prices are a double-edge sword in Alberta, contributing to the provincial economy while also hurting drivers at the pumps.

Member countries of the International Energy Agency could release more oil into the market later “as and if needed” after they have already agreed the largest-ever reserve release, Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Monday.

Birol said there will still be over 1.4 billion barrels remaining in IEA members’ emergency oil stocks.

“Despite this huge release, we still have a lot of stocks left. This current stock release, once it is completed, will reduce the emergency stocks in IEA countries only by around 20 per cent,” Birol said in a video statement.

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According to Birol, oil from the IEA reserves was already flowing in Asia after countries had decided to make 400 million barrels of crude available as oil prices started spiking in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

IEA, created in 1974 after the 1973 oil crisis, groups 32 countries from all continents.

“The volume of oil supply now offline is already higher than the supply loss during the oil shock of 1973, and higher than any of the big disruptions we have witnessed since then,” Birol said.

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Oil prices fell on Monday amid attacks on Gulf oil production and U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for global efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical waterway for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Makini Brice and Tomasz Janowski)