Sri Lanka, May 18 -- Commercial oil stocks are falling "very fast" as Gulf supplies remain disrupted by the Middle East war, even with the release of strategic reserves by governments worldwide, the head of the International Energy Agency (IAE) said on Monday (May 18).

Fears of shortages are rising with the summer travel season approaching in the northern hemisphere. Airlines have warned of jet fuel scarcity in weeks if supply disruptions persist.

"The commercial inventories are declining ... I think it's depleting very fast now," Fatih Birol told journalists as he arrived for a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Paris.

"We have still several weeks but we should be aware of the fact that they're declining rapidly," he said, warning tha...