{"id":465561,"date":"2026-03-09T08:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/465561\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:01:08","slug":"rachel-reeves-and-g7-to-discuss-triggering-emergency-release-of-oil-reserves-in-bid-to-avert-market-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/465561\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves and G7 to discuss triggering emergency release of oil reserves in bid to avert market catastrophe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Group of Seven’s (G7’s) finance ministers including Rachel Reeves are set to hold emergency talks today to address the oil price spike triggered by the war in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a crunch call at 1.30pm today, ministers will weigh a coordinated release from strategic petroleum stockpiles managed by the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

Three G7 nations, the US among them, have already signalled their backing for the proposal, the Financial Times reported on Monday.<\/p>\n

The 32 IEA member countries maintain emergency reserves specifically designed for oil market crises.<\/p>\n

Some American officials believe releasing between 300 million and 400 million barrels would be suitable, representing roughly a quarter of total reserves.<\/p>\n

Brent crude, the global benchmark, surged 24 per cent during Asian trading on Monday, reaching $116.71 per barrel.<\/p>\n

Prices later retreated following news of the G7 discussions, settling at $110.85, still up nearly 19 per cent.<\/p>\n

West Texas Intermediate, the American marker, climbed 28 per cent to $116.45 before dropping back to approximately $108.<\/p>\n

\"Rachel<\/p>\n

PICTURED: Rachel Reeves at the G7 summit in Canada last summer. She will discuss emergency oil measures with her counterparts in the group today<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

TREASURY<\/p>\n

The average US petrol price has already jumped to $3.45 per gallon by Sunday, up from $2.98 just a week earlier.<\/p>\n

Prices are expected to climb even higher unless the trend reverses.<\/p>\n

Asian stock markets fell sharply on Monday as investors reacted to the oil surge.<\/p>\n

US futures indices pointed to steep losses when American markets open, adding to financial market strain.<\/p>\n

OIL MARKETS ON THE EDGE – READ MORE:<\/p>\n

\"Smoke<\/p>\n

PICTURED: Smoke billows over an oil facility in Bahrain on Monday morning<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

The Trump administration’s willingness to consider tapping reserves represents a major U-turn from last week, when officials insisted stockpile releases were unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Energy analysts said the record price increases left policymakers with little alternative.<\/p>\n

On Truth Social on Sunday evening, Mr Trump dismissed concerns about rising oil costs.<\/p>\n

“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” he wrote. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”<\/p>\n

\"Fujairah\"\/<\/p>\n

Fujairah in the UAE is another fossil fuels target hit by Iranian strikes<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

The IEA established its emergency petroleum stockpiles in 1974 after the Arab oil embargo caused prices to soar and sparked widespread fuel shortages.<\/p>\n

Member states have collectively released reserves five times since then, most recently in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi warned on Friday that the conflict could “bring down the economies of the world” and predicted Gulf exporters would halt production within days.<\/p>\n

Some have already begun – with Kuwait cutting oil output on Saturday and declaring force majeure on shipments as the vital Strait of Hormuz remains blocked off.<\/p>\n

Bahrain, on Monday morning, did the same.<\/p>\n

IEA countries currently hold over 1.24 billion barrels in public stocks, plus roughly 600 million barrels in industry reserves.<\/p>\n

These supplies could meet nearly a month of total IEA oil demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Group of Seven’s (G7’s) finance ministers including Rachel Reeves are set to hold emergency talks today to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,2222,50,2987,229,1445,2331,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-465561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-oil","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-rachel-reeves","15":"tag-sgg","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-uk-politics","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}