The International Energy Agency says its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency stocks. It’s a bid to bring down crude prices that on Tuesday fell 15 per cent after hitting their highest levels since 2022 the day previous.

The IEA says it’s the largest reserves distribution in history and would more than double the biggest prior release in 2022. That’s when member countries of the agency put 182 million barrels on the market after Rusia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

There has been a massive disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz which in 2025 saw an average of 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and oil products transported through the narrow waterway. The IEA estimates that equates to approximately a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade.

In a statement the Executive Director of the IEA said, “Oil markets are global so the response to major disruptions needs to be global too.”