Wall Street Journal: Lackluster Oil Demand Calls Into Question IEA Motives

“Traders have been left questioning the International Energy Agency’s motives for its emergency stock release this month as demand for barrels on the physical market remains weak. International oil markets were thrown into turmoil by the IEA’s June announcement that it would release 60 million barrels from its emergency stockpiles to meet a shortfall of barrels caused by the loss of Libyan oil exports after violence broke out in the country in February. . . . ‘The move this week by President Obama and his administration to release Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) crude oil should be seen as nothing more than a political stunt,’ Energy ship brokers Poten & Partners wrote in a note on Friday.”