IEA signals 1.4 billion-barrel reserve release as Hormuz shipping halts
A near-halt of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz pushed the International Energy Agency (IEA) to put its member nations' 1.4 billion-barrel oil stockpile on the table, with the agency describing the disruption as "the biggest supply disruption in the history of the oil market".
The IEA said it stood ready to release more of those reserves to ease the impact.
The shortage landed hardest on Asian buyers, according to Carbon Brief, which tied the squeeze directly to the near-halt of shipping through Hormuz. Utilities across the region responded by ramping up coal generation to protect supply and contain costs during the conflict.
In Brussels, the pressure shifted to carbon policy. The Financial Times reported that some European leaders pressed the European Commission to overhaul the bloc's flagship Emissions Trading System (ETS) by summer in response to the energy crisis. The demand recast the ETS, built as a decarbonisation tool, as a potential short-term price-relief mechanism.
That push drew a sharp rebuke from Madrid. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused other European leaders of using the energy crisis as cover to gut climate policies.
The split inside the European Council leaves the Commission with a narrow summer window to decide whether to reopen the ETS file. Asian utility dispatch patterns, with coal taking a larger share of the load, give policymakers a parallel signal on how quickly the Hormuz shock is reshaping fuel choices outside Europe.
Source: carbonbrief.org (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink