IEA: Global Oil Reserves Continue to Deplete Due to Middle East Conflict

JAKARTA - The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that global oil reserves are experiencing the fastest depletion in history in April 2026. The shrinkage of global oil reserves is occurring alongside the United States’ war with Iran, which continues to pressure world oil supplies. In its Oil Market Report for May 2026, the IEA revealed that around 4 million barrels of oil per day were drawn from reserve supplies during April 2026. The Paris-based organisation recorded that monitored global oil inventories, including oil on tankers, shrank by 250 million barrels during March and April 2026, equivalent to 4 million barrels per day. The conflict in the Middle East has effectively made the Strait of Hormuz nearly closed off. Normally, that route is used by tanker ships carrying about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne crude oil trade. Although a fragile ceasefire occurred, tanker traffic in the region has not significantly recovered. In the report, the IEA noted that more than 14 million barrels per day of oil production is now halted due to restrictions on tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. “With tanker traffic in the Hormuz Strait still limited, the accumulation of supply losses from Gulf producers has exceeded 1 billion barrels, with more than 14 million barrels per day now halted,” the IEA stated. The IEA recorded that world oil supply fell by another 1.8 million barrels per day in April 2026, reaching 95.1 million barrels per day. Thus, the total supply decline since February 2026 amounts to 12.8 million barrels per day. Nevertheless, several producers outside the Middle East are beginning to increase production to ease global supply pressures. “Producers outside the Middle East are also boosting output and pushing exports to record levels in response to the crisis,” the IEA wrote. The IEA stated that the projected growth in oil supply from the Americas region has been revised upwards by more than 600,000 barrels per day since the beginning of the year, to an average of 1.5 million barrels per day in 2026.