The International Energy Agency announced Wednesday that its 32 member countries, which include the United States, will be releasing 400 barrels of emergency reserve oil to mitigate disruptions in the oil market originating from Operation Epic Fury.
BREAKING: The International Energy Agency proposed a release of 400 million barrels per day from strategic oil reserves, the largest such move in IEA history, to try to restrain soaring crude prices amid the US-Israeli war with Iran -Reuters
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 11, 2026
JUST IN – The International Energy Agency (IEA) is reportedly set to recommend releasing oil from strategic reserves due to the Iran war, with over 100 million barrels expected to be released in the first month — Reuters
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 11, 2026
This release will mark the largest in the history of the IEA, as oil prices briefly spiked on Monday before dropping to below $90 a barrel by the end of the day. However, Iran is now threatening to push oil prices above $200 a barrel as it has sought to target tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
🚨BREAKING — Iran threatens to BLOCK ALL ships through the Strait of. Hormuz, force oil to $200 per barrel.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 11, 2026
“Not a single liter of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the benefit of the U.S., Israel, or their partners.”
FAFO.@POTUS
pic.twitter.com/Xur9P2RLlN
From the IEA:
IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of over 1.2 billion barrels, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation. The coordinated stock release is the sixth in the history of the IEA, which was created in 1974. Previous collective actions were taken in 1991, 2005, 2011, and twice in 2022.
“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,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. “Oil markets are global so the response to major disruptions needs to be global too. Energy security is the founding mandate of the IEA, and I am pleased that IEA Members are showing strong solidarity in taking decisive action together.”
However, the release of 400 million barrels of oil will only partially ease rising prices. Roughly twenty million barrels of crude and petroleum products pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day, meaning the IEA’s strategic release would replace only a fraction of any sustained disruption to shipping, depending on the length of Operation Epic Fury.
BACKGROUND ON STRATEGIC PETORLEUM RESERVES: stats via Bloomberg Intelligence (Henrik Fung, Anthony Chen)
— Joumanna Nasr Bercetche (@JoumannaTV) March 11, 2026
- G7 sits on ~ 1.1billion barrels of oil. The US ~ 450mb/d alone (see chart below)
- Japan has the biggest buffer at 109 days of import cover, with the rest of the G-7… pic.twitter.com/dyt0dE1Bda
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