Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, stated that commercial oil inventories are being depleted at a rapid pace across the world, with only a few weeks of supply remaining as a result of the US-Israel conflict involving Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to journalists while attending the meeting of Group of Seven finance leaders in Paris, Birol said that the release of strategic oil reserves had supplied an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to global markets, The Caspian Post reports, citing Al Jazeera.

However, the IEA head warned that these emergency reserves “are not endless”.

Birol also noted that the arrival of the spring planting season and increased summer travel in the northern hemisphere are expected to accelerate the decline in inventories, as demand rises for diesel, fertiliser, jet fuel, and petrol.

According to him, current commercial oil stocks could last for “several weeks”, but he stressed that the reserves are continuing to decrease quickly and that the situation should be closely monitored.