US to release 172 million barrels of oil from reserves

How the 172M barrel oil release aims to lower fuel costs / Photo: Shutterstock

To curb rising oil prices amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, the U.S. will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced.

In a statement, Wright said that 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) had previously agreed unanimously to a request by Donald Trump to reduce energy prices through a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and petroleum products from their strategic reserves.

Read also: Kazakhstan’s $2.3 billion oil blow: Export problems trigger major revenue loss.

According to the IEA, emergency reserves will be released to the market according to timeframes appropriate to each country’s national circumstances. The releases will also be supplemented by additional emergency measures adopted by some member states.

IEA member countries collectively hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of emergency stockpiles, in addition to about 600 million barrels of government-controlled industrial reserves.

Read also: How $100 oil could pay for Kazakhstan’s nuclear future.

The coordinated release will be the sixth in the agency’s history. The IEA, established in 1974, previously carried out collective actions in 1991, 2005, 2011, and twice in 2022.