11 March 2026
The 32 member states of the IEA have agreed to make 400m barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market to address disruptions in oil markets due to the ongoing war.This was announced by the agency’s executive director, Fatih Birol:
- The emergency stocks will be made available to the market over a timeframe that is appropriate to the national circumstances of each member country.The coordinated stock release is the sixth in the history of the IEA, which was created in 1974. Previous collective actions were taken in 1991 during the first Gulf war, in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina in the US, in 2011 during the war in Libya, and twice in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The ongoing war, which started on February 28, has impeded oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, with export volumes of crude and refined products currently at less than 10 percent of pre-conflict levels. This is forcing operators across the region to shut in or curtail a substantial amount of production.The most impacted area so far is Asia.
- 24m ago (14:30 GMT)Israel says it carried out deadly air strike on southern LebanonIsrael’s military says its air force has carried out an air strike on a building near where its forces are operating in southern Lebanon, killing enemy fighters.In a statement, it said its forces are also carrying out “targeted raids” in southern Lebanon as part of what it called a “forward defence operation”.Soldiers recovered assault weapons, ammunition cartridges and “Hezbollah vests” in the raids, it said.
