Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 18, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 18, 2026
International Energy Agency chief: Commercial oil inventories rapidly depleting, only weeks left
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An aerial photograph shows the Greek-flagged crude oil tanker 'Asahi Princess' off the coast of the Syrian Baniyas port refinery, along the Mediterranean Sea on on April 15, 2026. (Bakr ALkasem / AFP)
Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, says that commercial oil inventories are depleting rapidly amid the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and that those inventories only have a few weeks left.
Birol also says at the G7 meeting in Paris that the release of strategic oil reserves had added 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to the market, but that these reserves are not limitless.
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