The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on March 1 that member countries had agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves to stabilize the market after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The United States will release 30 million barrels -- half the total -- White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
"We are prepared to use every tool available to us to limit disruption to global energy supply as a result of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin's actions," Psaki said.
"We will also continue our efforts to accelerate diversification of energy supplies away from Russia and to secure the world from Moscow's weaponization of oil and gas," the statement added.
The 31 IEA countries agreed to release the 60 million barrels earlier on March 1 during an extraordinary meeting of the organization’s governing board. The release amounts to 4 percent of IEA members’ emergency stockpiles.
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“The situation in energy markets is very serious and demands our full attention,” IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, said. “Global energy security is under threat, putting the world economy at risk during a fragile stage of the recovery.”
The IEA said Russia “plays an outsized role on global energy markets” as the world’s third-largest oil producer and the largest exporter. It exports about 5 million barrels of crude daily amounting to about 12 percent of global oil trade. Sixty percent goes to Europe and 20 percent to China.
Birol said he was happy that IEA member countries "committed to do their utmost to support Ukraine in terms of fuel supply."
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm led the meeting of the governing board as chairwoman of this year’s IEA Ministerial Meeting.
The IEA statement said the move aims to "send a unified and strong message to global oil markets that there will be no shortfall in supplies as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Founded in 1974 as an energy watchdog, the IEA defines one of its main roles as helping coordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil. Besides the United States, IEA's members include Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.