Berlin | Germany and Austria say they are releasing parts of their oil reserves following an International Energy Agency (IEA) request for its members to release 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war.

The largest-ever previous collective release of emergency stocks by IEA member countries was 182.7 million barrels, in the wake of the energy shock prompted by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Germany's economy minister said Wednesday the country would release parts of its oil reserves following a request by the IEA to its member states Tuesday evening "to release oil reserves amounting to 400 million barrels, which is a good 54 million tons." Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.