Interior Secretary Burgum calls for IEA to release oil reserves to address supply disruption

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday that the International Energy Agency should release oil stockpiles to address the massive supply disruption triggered by the Iran war.

“Certainly these are the kinds of moments that these reserves are used for, because what we have here is not a shortage of energy in the world,” Burgum told Fox News in an interview.

“We’ve got a transit problem which is temporary,” he said. “When you have a temporary transit problem that we’re resolving militarily and diplomatically, which we can resolve and will resolve, this is the perfect time to think about releasing some of those to take some pressure off of the global price.”

Burgum’s comments come as the IEA has proposed to release 400 million barrels of oil, the biggest such action in the organization’s history, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae told reporters Wednesday that Tokyo plans to independently release stockpiled oil as early as Monday, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.

The IEA convened an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss a stockpile release, but has not yet publicly announced a recommendation. Its member countries hold about 1.2 billion barrels of oil in reserve. The IEA’s 32 members are advanced economies in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia.

The Iran war has triggered the biggest oil supply disruption in history, as most tankers are unwilling to transit the critical Strait of Hormuz because they fear attacks by the Islamic Republic.

The Strait is a narrow maritime passage between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman that is vital for global oil exports. About 20% of global petroleum consumption passed through the Strait prior to the war.