Attention is focused on whether the US and other major oil consuming countries will be able to catch the skyrocketing global energy prices by jointly releasing oil reserves.
The White House announced on the 23rd local time the release of 50 million barrels of strategic oil reserves, and South Korea and India also announced plans to supply oil reserves.
The White House said that China, Japan and the United Kingdom are also participating.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this is the fourth time that the international community has started jointly releasing oil stockpiles, as major consumer countries have started to lower oil prices through international cooperation led by the United States.
In the past three cases, it was a response to minimize damage in a situation where large-scale disruptions to crude oil production were caused by wars or natural disasters in major oil-producing countries.
When the Gulf War broke out following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991, the United States and other countries released 17.3 million barrels of oil reserves, and in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, 60 million barrels of oil reserves were released.
In 2011, 10 years ago, a total of 60 million barrels were released in response to disruptions in crude oil supply due to the civil war in Libya.
Unlike the previous three emissions, led by the International Energy Agency and the IEA, this measure is the first of its kind by autonomous cooperation from several countries, including the United States.
Above all, the analysis is meaningful in that it is the first international oil release effort in which two major countries, namely, China, which is classified as a G2, participated along with the United States.
The reason that the international community, including the United States and China, which are in conflict in all directions, has taken swift joint action is because the concern about energy-induced inflation is so serious.
It is reported that 'OPEC Plus', a consultative body of major oil producing countries, not only rejected the US's request for an increase in production earlier this month, but also suggested that it could adjust its existing plans to increase production in response to the release of oil reserves.
The release of oil stockpiles without an increase in production is only a temporary measure, and the market is showing a more sensitive reaction to the trends of oil producing countries, such as the rise in international oil prices on the same day that the release announcement from the United States and other countries was announced.