IEA Sees No Need to Release Oil Stocks

The International Energy Agency still sees no need for a coordinated international release of oil stocks after Hurricane Harvey disrupted a large chunk of US refining and some production facilities, it said on Friday. The Paris-based agency, which coordinates energy policies of industrialized nations, said it was monitoring the situation in Texas and Louisiana to assess the hurricane’s impact on oil and gas markets and was in very close contact with US authorities, Reuters reported. “To date, market mechanisms and government assistance have been adequate. The IEA stands ready to act as required,” it said in a statement. “There are high levels of stocks in the affected regions and in the United States as a whole. These stocks are being supplemented by imports of gasoline to the East Coast of the United States and the US Secretary of Energy has taken action to ease crude oil shortages in Texas by providing crude oil loans from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”