REX-INT -OIL CRISIS IMMINENT
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Emergency oil reserves could be tapped - but few would bet on prices falling
54 minutes ago
Faisal IslamEconomics editor
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As the oil price spiralled to $115 (£86) a barrel at one point early this morning, word emerged of an emergency meeting of the G7 finance ministers.
Reports suggested there could be a 300 million barrel release of emergency stockpiles co-ordinated by the International Energy Agency.
The speculation alone was enough to temper the rise in prices a bit, but they remain much higher than Friday's close, and way above the pre-conflict levels.
This can be of little surprise of course when millions of barrels of crude oil are shut in to the Gulf, and most Gulf countries are now reporting a slowing of their production at best, and at worst force majeure shutdowns - a clause freeing them from liability for failure to supply due to events outside their control.
Three hundred million barrels is a massive number. It would be more than double the record previous intervention made in April 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These reserves have only been tapped five times. This if agreed, would represent a quarter of stockpiles.
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