Emergency oil stocks not needed, IEA says

<a href=www.thestar.com>Irak, Nigeria, Venezuela Mar. 21, 2003. 08:58 AM

PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency said today it sees no reason to release emergency crude oil stocks despite the war in Iraq and civil unrest in Nigeria.

"There is no event in Iraq that makes us fear about a disruption in oil supply," agency spokesman Pierre Lefevre said, noting that the output concerned in Nigeria was not significant in terms of volume.

Thursday, soon after the U.S.-led troops launched an invasion of Iraq, the Paris-based energy watchdog said increased production from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and key member Venezuela, combined with lower demand for heating oil in the United States, helped to reinforce confidence that demand would be met.

The agency has said it will allow the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to have first crack at supplying customers before the IEA takes a decision to release stocks. OPEC has pledged to keep markets well supplied.

Iraq's oil exports through the United Nations' oil for food program, normally around 1.7 million barrels a day, are now virtually at a standstill following the withdrawal of UN staff from Iraq on Tuesday.

To date, ethnic clashes in the oil-rich Niger delta in Nigeria have disrupted more than 250,000 barrels a day of the OPEC member's two million barrels a day output.