Oil prices fall after IEA proposes biggest oil stock release in history

Oil prices dropped this morning after the Wall Street Journal reported the International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history to bring down crude prices that have soared amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Brent futures were trading down 23 cents, or 0.26% lower, at $87.57 a barrel at 0023 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 37 cents, or 0.44%, to trade at $83.08 a barrel.

The IEA’s proposed drawdown would exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member countries put onto the market in two releases in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the WSJ said, citing officials familiar with the matter.

In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said that a stockpile release of that size would offset 12 days of the ⁠investment bank’s estimated 15.4 million barrel-per-day Gulf exports disruption.

The U.S. and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war.

The U.S. military also “eliminated” 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the U.S. Central Command said, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned any mines laid in the Strait by Iran must be removed immediately.

Some analysts were sceptical about the IEA’s proposal and its impact on oil prices.

Source: Reuters

- Agencies