NEW YORK, May 10. /TASS/. Global oil reserves rapidly decline over the ongoing Middle East conflict and restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg news agency reported.
According to the agency, "Morgan Stanley estimates global oil stockpiles dropped by about 4.8 million barrels a day between March 1 and April 25 - far exceeding the previous peak for a quarterly drawdown in data compiled by the International Energy Agency."
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. pointed out, according to Bloomberg, that "global visible oil stocks are already close to their lowest since 2018."
The report notes that rapidly dwindling reserves demonstrate a growing risk of even sharper price spikes and shortages, the consequences of which global governments will not be able to effectively mitigate.
The sharp depletion of global reserves could also lead to an extremely unstable market situation even after the conflict in the Middle East ends.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Tehran decided to close the Strait of Hormuz to ships associated with the US, Israel and countries that backed the aggression against Iran. On April 7, Washington announced a "double-sided" two-week ceasefire with Iran.
On April 11, the parties held several rounds of talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. According to both Tehran and Washington, they were unable to reach a long-term settlement to the conflict due to multiple disagreements.
On April 21, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington intended to extend the ceasefire with Iran, which was set to expire in a few hours. The Iranian State Television announced later that Tehran did not intend to recognize the unilateral extension of the ceasefire announced by Washington and would act in line with its interests.