RIGA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are ready to release emergency oil stocks to the market, said a joint statement from the Baltic energy ministries published on Wednesday.
The three countries, all members of the International Energy Agency (IEA), welcomed the decision by the IEA and its member states to launch a voluntary collective action to use emergency oil reserves.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will now proceed with national decisions on releasing emergency oil stocks to the market, determining the size, timing and other necessary parameters to maximize the positive impact on both the market and consumers and to help manage current oil price increases, said the statement.
According to the statement, IEA member states will take coordinated action to place 400 million barrels of oil, equivalent to about 54 million tons of oil, to the market to mitigate the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. The ministries said the collective action is intended to send a strong and united signal to help stabilize the global oil market.
Although the Baltic region's oil security has not been directly affected so far, the ministries warned of wider economic consequences because global energy markets are highly interconnected and react quickly to price signals.
Persistently high oil prices remain a concern for households, businesses and economies across Europe, including in the Baltic states. Given the countries' shared exposure to global oil prices, the ministries stressed that any intervention in the market should be coordinated.
Oil prices have surged after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, which responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli and U.S. assets in the Middle East. Several countries have reduced oil production, while tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a route through which about one-fifth of the world's crude oil is shipped, has nearly come to a halt. ■