India planned to release about 5 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency stockpile in tandem with the US, Japan and other major economies to cool international oil prices, a top government official said on Tuesday.

This is the first time ever that India, which stores 5.33 million tonnes or about 38 million barrels of crude oil in underground caverns at three locations on the east and the west coasts, is releasing stocks for such purposes. 

Of this, about 5 million barrels would be released, starting as early as seven to ten days, the official, who wished not to be named, said.

The stocks will be sold to refineries of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), which are connected by pipeline to the strategic reserves. 

“We may look at releasing more reserves later,” the official said, adding that a formal announcement was expected later in the day. 

The US had last week made the unusual request to some of the world’s largest oil-consuming nations, including China, India and Japan, to consider releasing crude stockpiles in a coordinated effort to lower global energy prices. 

This request had been made after members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies had rebuffed repeated requests to speed up their production increases. 

India has been the most forceful about flexing its muscles as a major oil consumer, cutting shipments from Saudi Arabia by about a quarter after OPEC+ had extended production cuts.