Unilateral action by Washington risks undermining the U.S. relationship with the IEA.
A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard CarsonLONDON, May 9 - The United States announced a record-sized release of emergency crude oil reserves in March without consulting partners in the International Energy Agency, leaving them scrambling to match with releases of their own, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
"It is the common understanding of IEA members that we must cooperate as a whole,” said another source, this one from an IEA member country, who said the U.S. announcement came as a surprise. “The United States and other IEA members countries can and have, independently, released oil from their strategic reserves separate from any IEA collective action,” the department said in a statement to Reuters.At issue is the U.S. announcement on March 31 that it would unleash 180 million barrels from the SPR at a pace of 1 million barrels per day to bring down soaring global energy prices and address cuts in Russian oil supplies since its invasion of Ukraine in February.
With the United States accounting for about half of consumption among members, the IEA contribution should have roughly matched the U.S. draw. The Biden administration’s release marked the second time in six months that it had signed off on a big drawdown from the SPR without the IEA’s blessing.
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