EU Sees No Justification to Release Oil Stocks Amid Iran War

The European Union told member states this week that there is currently no justification to release strategic oil stocks, even as the Iran War continues to hamper key shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, according to people familiar with the matter.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, told a specially-convened Energy Union Task Force Thursday that member states hold strategic oil stocks covering 90 days of consumption — an obligation laid out by the International Energy Agency — and that at this stage there is no need to start releasing them, the people said.