Canada will support the International Energy Agency’s oil release with 23.6 million barrels from domestic producers, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said on Friday.
The IEA on Wednesday agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles held by member nations to combat a spike in prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“We will support this collective action with 23.6 million Canadian barrels, produced by our industry and co-ordinated with the federal and provincial governments,” Hodgson said in a statement.
“Our natural gas exports will also expand in the coming months, providing additional fuel to allies around the world,” Hodgson added.
Canada made the commitment even though the country lacks a strategic oil reserve of its own and an oil industry lobby group said there is little it can do to increase crude production in the short term.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Christian Martinez; Editing by Caitlin Webber and David Gregorio)