As of March 11, 2026, 32 members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from their reserves. [1] The Department of Energy has been authorized to begin releasing 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve starting March 16, 2026. The barrels will be released over the course of 120 days based on planned discharge rates. The IEA holds emergency stockpiles of more than 1.2 billion barrels of crude oils. The recent release of the barrels is designed to mitigate market impacts of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and the closure of commercial tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the IEA, an average of 20 million barrels per day of crude oil were transited through the Strait in 2025, and options for oil flows to bypass the route are limited.
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