Russia-Ukraine war: More oil from NZ's emergency stocks released in joint action to offset Russian export loss

Nearly half a million barrels from New Zealand's emergency oil stocks are being released in response to the ongoing impact on energy security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods said the 31 members of the International Energy Agency agreed to take collective action to release an additional 120 million barrels of global emergency oil stocks to help offset the loss of Russian oil exports after sanctions were imposed on Russia following the invasion.

New Zealand would release 483,000 barrels from its emergency oil stocks as part of additional action taken by member countries.

"The size of contributions to the stockdraw has now been determined by the IEA and New Zealand has committed slightly more than the amount requested by the IEA as our ticket contracts as released as a whole," Woods said.

"Our release is made up of around 184,000 barrels of crude oil held in Spain and close to 299,000 barrels of diesel held in the United Kingdom."

Woods said the contribution followed the release of 369,000 barrels of crude oil last month as part of the initial collective action to release 62.7 million barrels held by IEA members.

"New Zealand's membership of the IEA requires it to hold stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil and imports. New Zealand buys emergency reserve stocks that are held offshore as part of this obligation and help to manage potential disruptions in the oil market.

"We released slightly more than our allocated share in response to the last collective action and we have done so again as we play our part to help stabilise world energy markets.

She said there had been a great deal of volatility in global oil markets since the invasion and this further action, coupled with the United States' move to release 180 million barrels of oil over the next six months, would help to provide some certainty to the market.

The IEA said the new emergency release of oil stocks of 120 million barrels made it the largest stock release in IEA history.

It said the second collective action came as oil markets felt significant strains following the invasion.

Over the next six months, around 240 million barrels of emergency oil stocks, the equivalent of well over one million barrels per day, will be made available to the global market.

"The unprecedented decision to launch two emergency oil stock releases just a month apart, and on a scale larger than anything before in the IEA's history, reflects the determination of member countries to protect the global economy from the social and economic impacts of an oil shock following Russia's aggression against Ukraine," said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

"This latest collective action once again demonstrates the unity of IEA member countries in their solidarity with Ukraine and their determination to provide stability to the oil market during this challenging time. Events in Ukraine are becoming more distressing by the day, and action by the IEA at this time is needed to relieve some of the strains in energy markets."

Emergency oil stocks in IEA member countries are either in the form of public stocks that are either government-owned or by specialised agencies, or stocks held by industry under an obligation of the government.