Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, says that commercial oil inventories are depleting rapidly worldwide, with only a few weeks’ worth ‌left due to the US-Israel war on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz blockade, Al Jazeera reports.

Birol, who is participating in the Group of Seven finance leaders meeting in the French capital, Paris, tells reporters that the release of strategic oil reserves had added 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to the market, but said these reserves “are not endless”.

The onset of the spring planting and summer ⁠travel seasons in the northern hemisphere will drain inventories more quickly as demand for diesel, fertiliser, jet fuel, and petrol increases, Birol adds.

He said commercial inventories will last “several weeks, but we should ‌be ⁠aware of the fact that it is declining rapidly”.