The United States will release 172 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help curb soaring global oil prices caused by supply shocks from the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Chris Wright announced on Wednesday.
Wright said the release is part of a broader coordinated effort involving 400 million barrels of oil agreed upon earlier by the 32-nation International Energy Agency.
The oil release is scheduled to begin next week and is expected to take approximately 120 days to complete.
The conflict began on February 28 with attacks by United States and Israel on Iran. In response, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and several Gulf nations hosting U.S. military bases.
The escalation has heightened risks to global energy markets, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warning it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the attacks cease.
President Donald Trump, when asked about the threshold for the strategic petroleum reserve, said Washington will “reduce it a little bit” while ensuring future replenishment.
“The United States has arranged to more than replace these strategic reserves with approximately 200 million barrels within the next year,” Wright stated, emphasizing the government’s strategy to stabilise oil markets amid the conflict.
The coordinated release by the U.S. and the IEA is intended to ease pressure on global supply and mitigate further disruptions to oil-dependent economies as the Middle East war continues to affect markets worldwide.
