New Delhi, March 11 -- The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday (local time) announced that it will release 400 million barrels of oil from its emergency stockpile into the market to address disruptions in the global energy markets stemming from the war in the Middle East.

The 32-member organisation said the decision to take this emergency action was made after an extraordinary meeting held recently. The meeting, convened by IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, was to assess market conditions amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and consider the available options to address supply disruption concerns.

Birol said, "The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale. I am very glad that IEA member countrie...