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The rising crude oil prices suddenly came down amid the US-Israel and Iran war. This is because the International Energy Agency (IEA) has proposed the largest release in history from its oil reserves. This step has been taken to control oil prices. This oil release could be more than 182 million barrels of oil. Earlier, IEA member countries had released oil in the market twice in 2022. When Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine.

According to the report of the Wall Street Journal, this proposal has been put forward in the emergency meeting of energy officials of 32 member countries of the organization on Tuesday. Quoting officials related to the case, the report has claimed that a decision on this proposal is expected on Wednesday. However, this oil release will happen only if no member country of IEA opposes it. But if even one country opposes, this plan can be postponed.

What is International Energy Agency?

IEA is an international organization, headquartered in Paris. It was established in 1974. Its job is to create coordination between countries in case of a major problem in the supply of oil in the world. This organization works under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The IEA works with governments and companies to ensure that energy is safe, affordable and sustainable.

IEA has 32 member countries, the main ones being America, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Canada. Most are members of OECD. Apart from this, there are 13 associate members like India, China and Indonesia. However, India may soon become its full-time member, because last month its member countries unanimously agreed to bring along Brazil, Colombia, India and Vietnam.

Decline in crude oil

There was a big fall in the prices of crude oil on Wednesday. The price of Brent crude fell 0.26% to $87.57 per barrel, while WTI crude oil futures fell 0.44% to $83.08 per barrel. Front-month futures of US WTI and Brent crude closed down more than 11% in overnight trading. On Tuesday, the biggest one-day fall in oil prices in four years was seen. However, one reason for this was that there were different signals from the Trump administration regarding the Iran war, which caused huge fluctuations in the market.

This volatility increased further when US Energy Minister Chris Wright accidentally posted on social media that the US Navy had safely evacuated an oil tanker from the Strait of Hormuz. He later removed this post and the White House said that no such operation had taken place.