The decision by the International Energy Agency, or IEA, to tap into oil reserves, is historic in its size and scope.

400 million barrels dwarfs the number of barrels that were released after Russia invaded Ukraine.

But there are many questions about whether this more ambitious effort will stop a surge in oil and gas prices if the war endures.

To explore some of these questions, we're joined now by Clay Siegel, a senior fellow in the Energy

Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Thank you for being with us. So the IEA has not laid out a clear timeline for when this release could begin. But in

your view, how quickly could it hit the market and how much relief could it provide?

Good evening. The oil that is expected from the IEA's strategic drawdowns can hit the market

relatively quickly.

It's a little bit of a function of whether industry, meaning the oil companies that are connected to those reserves, are ready to receive those barrels or if they have other commercial

operations that are taking up bandwidth. But for the most part, as soon as the decision is made

within days, that oil can begin flowing to industry.

And President Trump has said that the U.S. will tap the strategic oil reserve. Of course,

as you well know, those strategic reserves are typically used for short-term disruptions,

not prolonged crises. How much can this effectively stabilize prices?

It all depends on the duration of the disruption.

So the 20 million barrels per day of oil that come from the Mideast Gulf and supply world markets

is really must have for global economic prosperity and the kind of prices, inflation, economic conditions that we're

used to. So what a measure like drawing down reserves from the international agency

and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve can do is buy us more time. They can extend a lifeline

for us to complete the operation in the Gulf and reach a post-war

settlement with the Iranians that will bring security back to the region and allow those exports

...