(Bloomberg) — The U.S. and other major economies have agreed on a coordinated release of oil stockpiles after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude above $100 a barrel, according to people familiar with the matter. 

People said that the International Energy Agency (which represents important industrialized consumers such as Japan and Germany) has agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from world stockpiles. As rising fuel costs make President Joe Biden’s political problems worse, this will be America’s second crude reserve release within the next few months. 

The U.S. Energy Department did not respond to our request for comment. The IEA couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. 

London’s crude oil prices soared to $105 per barrel for the first-time since 2014. This was due to fears that Russia’s energy supplies could be interrupted by conflict in Ukraine and retaliatory sanctions from the West. Inflationary pressures for oil-consuming countries are being exacerbated by the rally, which threatens economic recovery as well as causing a crisis in cost-of living for millions.

Russia’s aggression has spooked a market already tightened by a vigorous recovery in demand as the pandemic eases, and constraints on supply owing to under-investment and disruptions around the world. The trading giants Vitol and Trafigura Ltd. anticipate triple-digit price increases for a long time. 

The IEA’s intervention comes after the OPEC+ coalition, which is led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, disregarded encouragement from Biden last year to increase supplies more quickly. On March 2, the group met again to discuss April’s production plans. 

Riyadh has signaled that it doesn’t consider markets to be tight enough to speed up the restoration of production that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners halted during the pandemic. Many other nations in the 23-member alliance couldn’t increase supplies any faster even if they chose to, owing to lack of investment and instability.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbor have ample idle reserves that could be used to boost supply if required. Yet the kingdom has refused to fill in for fellow OPEC+ members who are struggling by tapping its spare capacity, contending that this would violate the spirit of the alliance’s agreement.

Biden is at high risk due to rising fuel prices. He also faces midterm election with falling approval ratings. With the announcement of last year’s release from emergency stocks, Biden has already failed in his efforts to control fuel costs. Traders claimed that the initiative’s limited scope and conditional return of most barrels was a hindrance to its success. 

It’s the first time the IEA has made a synchronised release of oil stocks since the Libyan civil war in 2011. There are echoes of that crisis in today’s events: It was Riyadh’s reluctance to open the taps a decade ago to offset the disruption caused by the uprising against dictator Moammar Qaddafi that prompted the agency into action.  

Previous deployments came during the 1991 Gulf War, and the onslaught of hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, making this just the fourth such intervention in the IEA’s five-decade history. 

The IEA’s 30 members, drawn from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, include the U.S., Japan, Germany and France.

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