US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said yesterday that the country will release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve in a bid to reduce oil prices that have soared due to supply shocks from the US-Israeli war on Iran. Wright said the release is part of a broader release of 400 million barrels of oil agreed to by the 32-nation International Energy Agency earlier in the day. Wright said the release will begin next week and will take about 120 days to deliver.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. The war has shaken markets around the world.
