PARIS (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) is ready to bring more oil to the markets by releasing additional stocks, its head Fatih Birol said on Wednesday, adding that the IEA would also come up with an action plan to “reduce oil in a hurry”.
“The IEA last week (…) has decided to release our oil stocks, we have a lot of stocks (…) This was an initial response (…) if there is a need we can bring more oil to the markets,” Birol said at an energy conference in Paris.
“Next week, as we did for gas, we are coming up with a ten point action plan how to reduce oil in a hurry (…) especially in the transportation sector”, Birol said.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, amid strong support from American voters and lawmakers, even though the move will drive up U.S. energy prices. [nL2N2VB298]
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Sudip Kar-Gupta)
