The International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East.

The Paris-based organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members' emergency reserves. It's a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA's 32 member countries in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.