Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced on Wednesday, 11th March, that Portugal will, “in principle”, release 10% of its strategic oil reserves in a bid to help curb rising fuel prices by increasing supply.
“We will share with several international partners one of the conclusions reached at the G7 meeting and we will make available a significant portion, in principle 10%, of our strategic reserves so that there can be greater supply and stronger containment of fuel prices,” Montenegro told reporters.
Portugal is thus aligning itself with an agreement by member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which earlier decided to release a combined 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves onto global markets.
Speaking as he left the parliamentary hall of Portugal’s governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Caminha, in the district of Viana do Castelo, Montenegro stressed that the Portuguese government “is aligned with what is happening within the European Union and among other countries”.
The PM also added that during the latest meeting with European partners attended by the finance minister, Portugal was asked to explain its “ fuel tax discount mechanism” currently applied to the “Imposto sobre Produtos Petrolíferos” (ISP), in other words, the tax on petroliferous products, so that similar measures could potentially be adopted elsewhere.
“It is well known that Greece and Croatia have already taken decisions aimed at limiting the rise in fuel prices,” Montenegro said. “We are sharing exactly what each country is doing in order to shape a common strategy that can, to some extent, contain the impact on families and businesses.”
According to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, a total of 400 million barrels of oil will be released to the market following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy shipping route.
This marks the sixth time the agency has coordinated the release of strategic oil reserves.
The planned release, more than double the agency’s previous record intervention at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when 182 million barrels of crude were made available, is intended to offset supply losses caused by the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
Over the weekend, the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, aiming to “eliminate imminent threats from the Iranian regime”. Tehran responded with missiles and drones targeting US bases in the region as well as Israeli positions.
Iran subsequently closed the Strait of Hormuz and launched retaliatory attacks against Israel, US bases and infrastructure across the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Iraq, Cyprus and Turkey.
Source: LUSA
