New Zealand to release further oil reserves in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine
Saturday, 2 April 2022
The Government has announced that New Zealand will release more of its emergency oil stocks in response to the global impact on energy security as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The move followed a meeting held in the early hours of this morning and was part of additional action by the 31 International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries.
The IEA nations agreed to release additional barrels of oil from global emergency stocks to offset the loss of Russian oil exports after sanctions were imposed on the nation following its military invasion.
The size of the release will be disclosed early this week.
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Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said New Zealand had already released 369,000 barrels of oil last month as part of the initial collective action to release 60 million barrels held by IEA members.
“We released slightly more than our allocated share in response to the last collective action and New Zealand again stands ready to play its part to help stabilise world energy markets,” Woods said.
New Zealand’s membership in the IEA required it to hold stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil and imports.
The emergency reserve stock was held offshore to manage potential disruptions in the oil market.
The actions of the IEA nations, along with the United States’ move to release 180 million barrels of oil in the next six months, would help calm a market that faced volatility since the Russian invasion, she said.
Woods gave assurances that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and any resulting cuts to Russian oil supply would not affect the availability of fuel in New Zealand.
“Strategic reserves of oil are held for exactly this reason; to ensure there is as much fuel security and price stability as possible when there are global disruptions to oil production,” she said.