Commercial oil stocks are falling “very fast” as Gulf supplies remain disrupted by the Middle East war, even with strategic reserves being drawn down by governments worldwide, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said on Monday.
“The commercial inventories are declining … I think it’s depleting very fast now,” Birol told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Paris. “We have still several weeks but we should be aware of the fact that they’re declining rapidly. These are not endless.”
The IEA has coordinated the release of 426 million barrels from emergency stocks held by its 32 member countries, and said this month that around 164 million barrels had already been drawn. Iran has effectively halted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes launched in late February, choking off Gulf oil and gas flows and sending prices to multi-year highs.
Birol said the shortage risk is rising with the northern hemisphere summer travel season approaching, and airlines have warned of jet fuel scarcity within weeks if disruptions persist.
US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that “the clock is ticking” and “there won’t be anything left” of Iran if no peace deal is reached, even as a fragile truce holds. Brent crude touched $110.70 on Monday, a two-week high.
For Sri Lanka, the warning compounds an already acute fuel-import pressure. Deputy Finance Minister Anil Jayantha urged the public to economize consumption on Saturday after the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation spent roughly $1 billion on fuel imports in four months — two-thirds of last year’s full bill — and the government rolled out a Rs. 57 billion three-month subsidy on diesel and petrol.
Sources: Ada Derana (AFP).
