G7 leaders will meet on Wednesday afternoon to consider releasing strategic oil reserves in response to the war in the Middle East. The meeting, held by video link, will be chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, as France currently holds the G7 presidency.
Energy ministers from the G7 — the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom — said on Wednesday that they were prepared to take all necessary steps, in coordination with the International Energy Agency (IEA), to address sharply rising oil prices linked to the conflict. They said they supported, in principle, proactive measures, including a joint release of reserves.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the IEA is proposing what would be its largest-ever release of oil reserves. The plan would exceed the 182 million barrels released by member states in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Oil Barrels
Energy ministers met on Tuesday, followed by an extraordinary IEA meeting. The agency’s 32 members jointly hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of emergency oil reserves. Companies also hold a further 600 million barrels that governments may authorise for release.
Sources told Bloomberg that the potential release discussed ranges between 300 million and 400 million barrels. The United States has the largest strategic reserves within the IEA, with 415 million barrels stored in Texas and Louisiana.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Wednesday that no decision had yet been made. Oil prices rose sharply again on Wednesday morning after a fall the previous day, increasing by more than 6 percent.
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