US, IEA to Release Oil from Reserves - Wall Street Journal

BY GUY CHAZAN, STEPHEN POWER AND JARED A. FAVOLE

Oil prices fell to a four-month low after the International Energy Agency said its members will release 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stocks, half from the U.S. strategic reserve, to offset production lost to the unrest in Libya, only the third time in its history that the IEA has intervened in this way.

The move on Thursday came two weeks after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries roiled oil markets by failing to agree to raise production, despite pleas from consuming nations worried about oil prices that have risen nearly 20% this year. It comes against a backdrop ...