Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 09 2022

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

IEA members hold
a combined 1.5bn
barrels of emergency
stockpiles.

IEA members to release 60mn

barrels amid Ukraine conflict

GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) if necessary, following the initial 30mn barrel
members led by the US agreed on March 1 to release from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve
a co-ordinated release of crude oil from emer- (SPR).
gency stockpiles. The IEA release follows separate co-ordinated
The decision comes in the wake of Russia’s SPR releases that the US agreed on with a num-
invasion of Ukraine last week, and will result in ber of other countries including China, India,
60mn barrels of oil being released onto the mar- Japan, South Korea and the UK in late 2021 in
ket. Half of the volume will come from the US. a bid to stem the rise in oil prices. Reuters noted
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Indus- this week that China never officially committed Granholm said
try Koichi Hagiuda was quoted as saying the pre- to the co-ordinated release and has instead been
cise share to be contributed by other members buying more oil for its reserves. However, the US in a separate
would be determined in the subsequent days. had been in the process of releasing 50mn bar-
The IEA consists of 31 members – mostly rels as part of that co-ordinated effort through a statement that
European countries, but also the US, Canada combination of sales and exchanges.
and Mexico, as well as a handful of Asia-Pacific But while the US government is releasing the US stood
countries. They made the decision to co-ordinate oil from its SPR, it is resisting calls for domestic ready to take
a release at an extraordinary meeting that was producers to ramp up output. On February 27,
chaired by US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Gra- White House press secretary Jen Psaki described additional
nholm in her capacity as the chair of this year’s calls for the US to boost its own oil production
IEA Ministerial Meeting. as a “misdiagnosis”. She went on to say that the measures if
IEA members hold a combined 1.5bn barrels situation actually justified US President Joe Bid-
of emergency stockpiles. The initial 60mn barrel en’s view that the country needs to reduce its necessary.
drawdown accounts for 4% of those stockpiles, dependence on oil altogether – both foreign and
and is equivalent to 2mn barrels per day (bpd) domestic.
over a 30-day period. Thus far, the planned IEA release, as well as
The co-ordinated release is the IEA’s fourth the OPEC+ group’s decision on March 1 to con-
since its creation in 1974, the agency noted in a tinue will its planned ramp-up in production,
statement. It previously took collective actions in has not stopped oil prices from rising to their
1991, 2005 and 2011. highest level since 2011. (See next story) Brent
Granholm said in a separate statement that crude briefly hit $118 per barrel on March 3,
the US stood ready to take additional measures before dropping back somewhat.™

Week 09 03•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7