OPEC Secretary General to IEA: Halt Stock Release

OPEC's secretary general on Monday called for an immediate halt to the IEA emergency stocks release and said there was no need for the extra oil.

"I hope this practice will be stopped and stopped immediately," Abdullah al-Badri told a news conference in Vienna following EU-OPEC talks.

"We don't see a good reason to release this quantity and I hope the IEA will refrain from using this practice," he said following the IEA's announcement last week it had ordered the release of 60 million barrels of oil.