ASEANEWS HEADLINE-WORLD OIL CRISIS | PARIS, France: Emergency oil stocks to flow in Asia – IEA
Tricycle drivers wait for passengers at their terminal in Batasan, Quezon City yesterday. Inset shows a woman along the Marilaque Highway in Tanay, Rizal filling a motorcycle tank using fuel from a recycled liquor bottle./Miguel De Guzman / Russell Palma
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PARIS – Strategic oil reserves will be released “immediately” in Asia and Oceania, and as early as the end of March in America and Europe, the International Energy Agency said on Sunday.
IEA members agreed on March 11 to tap oil stockpiles to cushion the surge in prices caused by the war in the Middle East, in by far the largest-ever response of its kind.
“Individual implementation plans have been submitted to the IEA by member-countries. These plans indicate that stocks will be made available by IEA member-countries in Asia and Oceania immediately,” said the IEA.
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“Stocks from IEA member-countries in the Americas and Europe will be made available starting from the end of March,” it added.
The IEA said a total 271.7 million barrels of government-managed stocks would be released worldwide.
Motorists line up at a gasoline station along Norzagaray Road in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on Sunday, March 8, 2026, as some stations display “out of stock” signs for diesel./ The STAR / Ryan Baldemor
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“The war in the Middle East is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market” it said.
It called the emergency stockpile release – the sixth in the history of the global energy body and the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 – a “significant and welcome buffer.”
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The announced releases have not had a significant impact on the price of oil, which hovers around $100 a barrel, the highest since 2022 and up from below $70 before the start of the war.
The IEA added that “the most important factor in ensuring a return to stable flows is the resumption of regular transit of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has effectively blocked the strategic strait since the war started on Feb. 28 with US-Israeli air strikes on Iranian targets.
“Adequate insurance mechanisms and physical protection for shipping are key to the resumption of flows,” the IEA said.
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In Manila, the energy secretary said the Philippines may benefit from the 400 million barrels that the 32 member-states of the IEA will release to the global markets.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin emphasized that managing fuel supply is a shared responsibility, and the public must do its part to conserve stocks.
“Our appeal is let’s all help each other,” Garin said. “The more we save on fuel, the more secure we are.”
“It’s all about how we use our fuel. We want to make sure that you can still travel, ride the jeepney, buses and go from one place to another, but let’s be wiser now in using fuel,” she stressed.
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Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East that have disrupted supply flows, the IEA plans to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, the largest stock release in its history.
The stocks will be made available to the market on a timeline suited to the specific circumstances of each member country.
However, the Philippines is not an IEA member, and therefore will not have access to these emergency reserves.
Still, the Department of Energy remains optimistic that the drawdown will help stabilize prices in the global market.
“The more supply there is available, then the price would be more controlled,” Garin said.
