The International Energy Agency has called an emergency ministerial meeting on Friday at 1200 GMT to discuss the state of the oil market, a spokesperson for Australian energy minister Angus Taylor said on Thursday.
“The IEA have called an emergency meeting to be scheduled for Friday night Australian time,” the spokesperson said, adding that Taylor would be participating.
Two senior US officials said President Joe Biden’s administration is considering releasing 1 million barrels of oil a day for several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce gas prices.
That could come on top of a release of 60 million barrels of oil that IEA countries agreed to release earlier in March to stabilise global markets after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Moscow calls its activities in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm its neighbour.
The meeting on Friday is being held “to discuss the impacts of the collective action and assess the current oil market situation”, Taylor’s spokesperson said.
Australia committed to release just under 1.7 million barrels of oil as part of the 60 million barrel release earlier in March and does not have any more oil in emergency reserves.
