The 32 member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA) have agreed unanimously to release 400 million barrels of crude oil from their emergency reserves in a coordinated effort to steady global markets rattled by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The decision is the largest collective stock release in the agency’s history and comes amid severe disruptions to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for the global oil trade.
Recall that the conflict, which erupted on 28 February 2026, has sharply curtailed exports through the strait, with volumes falling to less than 10 per cent of pre-war levels.
In 2025, around 20 million barrels of oil per day passed through the waterway, accounting for roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne crude supply.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said the scale of the market shock required an equally far-reaching response.
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“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.
“Oil markets are global, so the response to major disruptions needs to be global too,” he said.
According to IEA, the release will be implemented in phases, reflecting the national circumstances and stockholding capacities of individual member states with some countries also expected to complement the move with additional domestic emergency measures.
The action represents the sixth coordinated stock release since the IEA was established in 1974 in the aftermath of the oil crises of the 1970s. Previous interventions took place in 1991, 2005, 2011, and twice in 2022.
The IEA and its members currently hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil in public emergency reserves, alongside a further 600 million barrels maintained under industry stockholding obligations.
The agency also clarified it would publish further details on the timing and structure of the release in the coming days, while continuing to monitor developments in global oil and gas markets closely.