No need for SPR, IEA says

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 25 (UPI) -- There's no reason for IEA members to tap into strategic petroleum reserves given current market conditions, a director said.

U.S. and European sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry are to go into force in the coming days, leaving oil exports from one of the top members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sidelined from the energy markets.

Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, was quoted by the Platts news service as saying there wasn't a need to take into strategic reserves to compensate for Iranian sanctions.

"There is no reason for that," she said from Russia. "Given the market situation, there is no justification."

The U.S. House of Representatives last week advanced legislation that, if signed into law, would require the president to expand domestic oil efforts in exchange for decisions to release strategic petroleum reserves.

The IEA last year called on member states to release strategic reserves to offset the loss of oil from Libya during the height of the civil war.

Van der Hoeven said markets had ample time to prepare for actions against Iran.