‘Those responsible have to deal with it…’: India refuses IEA’s call to release strategic oil reserves

Iran war: India will not join the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) initiative to release strategic oil reserves to cool down oil prices, as per a report. This comes after IEA’s call to nations, including the Group of Seven (G7) countries, to release strategic oil reserves. 

According to a report in news agency PTI, India will not release the reserves. "The crisis (that led to a rise in prices) is not our creation. Those responsible have to deal with it and create situations to ease (prices)," a source told the news agency.

India has 5.33 million tonnes of underground strategic reserves, but are only 80 per cent filled currently. "Ours is an India first policy," the source said, adding that India’s reserves are to be used in situations of disruption in supplies. 

While IEA executive director Fatih Birol is due to speak to India authorities on the issue, India is not a full member of IEA and is hence not obligated to follow the orders of the body. India is an associate member of IEA. 

This is a deviation from what New Delhi had done in 2021. India joined the US' efforts and released 5 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs).

Separately, India also has no plans to restrict its fuel exports, and has a reasonably comfortable stocks on petrol, diesel, and ATF. 

IEA’S CALL FOR OIL RESERVES

The IEA urged the G7 countries to coordinate the release of emergency oil reserves. This was conveyed during an online meeting with G7 finance ministers, according to Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama.

Katayama said, "IEA called for each country to do a coordinated release of oil reserves." She added that the G7 has agreed to continue closely monitoring developments in the energy market and to take necessary measures to support global energy supply, including the release of oil reserves.

The meeting saw participation from executives representing the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

Katayama confirmed that the G7 will soon hold a meeting of energy ministers to discuss further steps.