The IEA has agreed the largest release of oil reserves in history. What's in the markets?

The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) have agreed to provide the market with 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves to mitigate disruptions in oil supplies caused by the war in the Middle East. This is the largest release of strategic reserves in the history of the IEA, CNBC writes.

Brent oil Mark on the background of this news fell to $88 per barrel, but at the time of publication again traded at $90. Futures for WTI with delivery in April also fell to $84 per barrel, but then rose again to $86. The broad index of American stocks S&P 500 - in a small minus (0.08%), technological Nasdaq Composite adds 0.22%, Dow Jones amid the publication of data on inflation in the United States - in the minus by 0.54%.

The decision to release reserves was made unanimously at an extraordinary meeting of the IEA. The 32 member states of the agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil. According to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, the problems in the oil market are "unprecedented in scale," so the countries agreed on emergency collective action, which will be the largest such intervention in the history of the agency.

The release of reserves will take place within a timeframe determined by each country and may be accompanied by additional emergency measures. The IEA explained the need for intervention by the fact that after the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East on February 28, oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz - a narrow water passage off the coast of Iran through which a fifth of the world's oil supplies pass - have fallen sharply - exports from the region have fallen to less than 10% of pre-war levels, while in 2025 about 20 million barrels of oil and oil products per day passed through the strait.

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