IEA countries to meet later Tuesday on release of oil reserves, but no decision made yet

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The International Energy Agency will convene an extraordinary meeting of its member countries Tuesday to discuss a possible release of oil stockpiles to address the supply disruption triggered by the Iran war.

The more than 30 members will “assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks [...] available to the market,” IEA chief Fatih Birol said in a statement.

The IEA’s members are advanced economies primarily in North America, Europe and Northeast Asia. They collectively hold about 1.2 billion barrels of oil in reserve. Another 600 million barrles is held in industry stocks under government obligation.

Energy ministers from the Group of Seven nations met earlier Tuesday to discuss options to address the supply disruption, Birol said. The G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They are also IEA members.