Facing increasing volatility in energy markets, Monika Schnitzer, chair of the Economic Experts Council, has called for the release of strategic oil reserves held by G7 countries.
She explained to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that the G7 reserves were specifically created as a strategic buffer to intervene during severe supply disruptions. In previous crises they have already been drawn on to quickly boost supply and stabilize prices, so the current proposition to unlock them now follows logically.
Schnitzer noted that the reserves’ capacity is limited: they are intended to cover net imports for roughly 90 days. Therefore they can only mitigate short‑term price spikes, not cancel out longer‑term price increases.
New economic adviser Gabriel Felbermayr also urged a review of political measures in energy markets to ease the economic impact of the Iran war. “We should consider tapping strategic oil and gas reserves” he told the “Tagesspiegel”. “If put on the market in a coordinated fashion, they raise the supply temporarily and reduce prices”.
Many OECD countries maintain such reserves. Germany, for example, holds only the statutory stock of about 23 million tonnes of oil and virtually none of natural gas, whereas Austria has both. Felbermayr stressed that any action would need to be coordinated-particularly with the United States-because isolated moves by single states would scarcely influence the global market.