Crude oil prices continued to boil in Wednesday’s evening session as traders showed little regard for the International Energy Agency’s decision on 11 March to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history in an effort to counter the supply disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures jumped 6% to the day’s high of $93 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures showed a similar gain of 6.6% to hit $88.90 per barrel.
The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market to address disruptions in oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East.
It’s a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“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,” said Fatih Birol in a statement.
The International Energy Agency did not set out a timeline for when the stocks would hit the market. However, it said reserves would be made available to the market over a timeframe.
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.
Strait of Hormuz disruption sends oil prices into sharp volatility
Since war erupted in the Middle East on 28 February with the US and Israel’s joint attacks on Iran, the flow of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has all but stopped, cutting off a vital passageway where roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil sails through on a typical day.
Major producers in the region, such as Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, have also cut production because they are running out of storage space. Iran, Israel, and the US have all struck oil and gas facilities, worsening supply concerns.
That has sent prices soaring with dramatic swings almost every day. On Monday, Brent crude — the international standard — surged to as high as nearly $120 a barrel before falling to under $90 after US President Donald Trump suggested the war could be near an end. But attacks have continued to escalate since.
Countries around the world hold vast quantities of oil that they can use in the event of a crisis.
Oil flows through Strait of Hormuz fall sharply amid conflict
The conflict in the Middle East has impeded oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, with export volumes of crude and refined products currently at less than 10% of pre-conflict levels, the International Energy Agency said in its statement.
An average of 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and oil products transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2025, or around 25% of the world’s seaborne oil trade. Options for oil flows to bypass the Strait of Hormuz are limited.
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