| Take that, Hugo. |
"When you take all of the stocks that all of the countries hold together in the IEA, we have the ability to meet a complete shutoff of Iranian oil for over four years," Karen Harbert, assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the Energy Department, said at a hearing before a House Government Reform Committee panel.
Concern that a standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions could cut exports from the OPEC member have been one factor behind high oil prices this year. Harbert declined to estimate how much a hypothetical cutoff in Iranian oil imports would impact oil prices. "There would certainly be some sort of price reaction," Harbert said, pointing to tight spare capacity globally.
Iran in April pumped about 3.8 million barrels per day, the second-biggest OPEC producer behind Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Iran exports about 2.7 million bpd of that to major customers in Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Europe, the EIA said.
IEA member countries hold about 4.1 billion barrels of public and industry oil stocks, and about 1.4 billion of those are in government hands for emergency purposes, according to its Web site. IEA members released about 60 million barrels of crude oil and refined products last year to allay shortages caused when hurricanes Rita and Katrina walloped the U.S. Gulf Coast.