The countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) meet for an extraordinary meeting on Friday to discuss the oil market, with the possibility of new measures to try to calm courses panicked by the invasion of Ukraine.
“We will discuss the steps we can take to ensure stability in the oil markets“, explained the executive director of the IEA, Fatih Birol, during a discussion organized by the New York Times.
“This extraordinary meeting of the governing board at ministerial level was convened by the United States to assess the impacts of the recent collective release of oil stocks and to consider possible additional measures, given the rapidly changing the world oil supply situation and the current oil market“The French Ministry of Ecological Transition told AFP.
The IEA announced in early March that its member countries would release 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves to stabilize the market after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Additionally, U.S. President Joe Biden decided on Thursday night that one million barrels drawn from U.S. reserves would be pumped into the market every day for the next six months, or “more than 180 million barrels“.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has boosted oil prices sharply, while producing countries also continue to restrict their supply.
The producing countries of OPEC + (an alliance that includes Russia) agreed on Thursday to a new modest opening of their black gold valves, ignoring calls to ease pressure on prices.
On March 7, oil reached its historic price records reached during the 2008 financial crisis.
Brent from the North Sea, the benchmark for black gold in Europe, peaked at 139.13 dollars a barrel and American WTI touched 130.50 dollars.
Since then, prices have slipped from their peaks, with a barrel around 100 dollars on Friday.
AFP