The IEA reported a decrease in world oil reserves

MOSCOW, 14 Sep — PRIME. Commercial stocks of oil and petroleum products in the world decreased in July compared to June by 25.6 million barrels, while in the OECD countries they increased by 43.1 million barrels, but were still below the five-year average, according to the September report of the International Energy agencies (IEA).

“Global oil reserves in July decreased by 25.6 million barrels due to a reduction in reserves in China and oil on the water, as well as due to the strategic reserves of the IEA countries. Total industrial reserves in OECD countries increased by 43.1 million barrels, to 2 705 million barrels, still below the five-year average, but the gap has narrowed to 274.9 million barrels.

The IEA notes that from March to August, 180 million barrels were released from strategic reserves, and more than 50 million will be delivered by October.

Bringing commercial reserves of oil and petroleum products in the world to an average five-year level was originally designated as the goal of the OPEC+ deal. Of all the stocks, the parties to the agreement track stocks in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) most actively.

However, in 2021, the alliance members began to focus on an additional target – the average value of reserves for the period 2015-2019, since oil reserves were at an abnormally high level for almost the entire 2020.