Japan will release 7.3 million barrels of reserve oil kept by 66 private-sector refiners over a 30-day period beginning Wednesday in a concerted action by the International Energy Agency to help stabilize the world oil market in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
More than 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil or petroleum products will be released on the domestic market, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday.
It is up to the refiners to decide which products or how much crude to discharge, government officials said.