Japan Urges IEA to Prepare for Second Emergency Oil Release

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday asked the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to be ready for an additional release of oil stocks from reserves if it is necessary. The IEA two weeks ago launched the biggest coordinated emergency stocks release, of over 400 million barrels, since it was created in the 1970s. As part of this release, the U.S. has moved to release 172.2 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), and Japan early this week began preparations to start releasing crude…