FRENCH president Emmanuel Macron yesterday said the G7 will discuss a possible release of strategic oil reserves, as finance ministers of the world’s leading industrialised nations prepare to meet for crisis talks on the Middle East war.
Macron, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven advanced economies, said “the use of strategic reserves is an option being considered.”
A possible meeting of G7 heads of state and government could take place this week, Macron told journalists on his way to Cyprus.
“A coordination among G7 heads of state and government this week on the issue of energy is being examined,” he added.
French finance minister Roland Lescure will chair a video meeting of G7 finance ministers at 13h30 Paris time.
The gathering will “review the situation in the Gulf from an economic point of view” and the “events of recent days,” the ministry says.
The Financial Times reported earlier that the finance ministers of the G7, which also includes Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States (US), were scheduled to discuss a joint release of strategic oil reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
‘NEED TO COORDINATE’
“We will discuss, we will listen to the feedback from the field, from businesses, from economists in these different parts of the world,” Lescure had said earlier.
“We obviously need to coordinate.”
Asian stock markets plunged yesterday as oil prices soared 30% on fears about supplies from the Middle East as the US-Israeli war against Iran stretched into a second week with no sign of letting up.
The surge was pared after the Financial Times report, which said three G7 countries, including the US, have so far backed the idea.
The Nikkei Daily reported yesterday that the Japanese government had instructed domestic oil reserve bases to prepare to make releases.
The Japanese government says no decision had been taken.
Japan’s strategic oil reserves were more than 400 million barrels as of December, and are among the world’s largest. Prime minister Sanae Takaichi last week said the reserves were equivalent to 254 days of domestic consumption.
US president Donald Trump says the spike in prices was a “small price to pay” to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat, repeating the White House’s insistence that the rise is temporary.
“Only fools would think differently,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The IEA was created to coordinate responses to major supply disruptions after the 1973 oil crisis.
In order to ensure energy security, the IEA imposes on its members an obligation to hold emergency oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports. These stocks are either controlled directly by the state or by private companies.
France holds 118 days of stocks, the economy ministry told AFP yesterday.
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