Europe’s emergency oil reserves helped prevent the Hormuz disruption from becoming a physical fuel shortage, but Europe’s low gas storage creates a more immediate risk. Europe has used part of its oil buffer, but is now heading toward winter with a much less comfortable gas position.
On March 11, the International Energy Agency’s 32 member countries agreed to make 400 million barrels of emergency oil available, the largest coordinated stock release in the organization’s history. European IEA members contributed around 107.5 million barrels, with approximately 68% consisting of refined petroleum products and only 32% being crude oil.
Europe’s oil system, which consists of different combinations of government stocks, national stockholding agencies, and inventories held by private companies, managed to cope with the crisis. However, Europe is now concerned about its gas storage levels, which are only around 61% full compared to a five-year average of approximately 78%.
