LONDON, July 21 (UPI) -- Though Washington sold its strategic oil reserves, Europeans are seeing lower demand and one official said there's no need for another release from the IEA.

The International Energy Agency in June called on member states to release oil from strategic reserves in order to offset tight market conditions brought on by shuttered oil production in war-torn Libya.


The agency during the weekend will take another look at market conditions after Saudi Arabia moved unilaterally to increase crude oil production, the Financial Times reports.

Washington said it sold off all of its shares of its 30 million barrels of strategic oil reserves. The U.S. Department of Energy, however, reported that crude oil inventories were down, suggesting higher demand.

French officials had said there might be another IEA release in August though officials in Rome and Berlin said European demand isn't mimicking U.S. trends.

"The word from Berlin is that there won't be a second release," Eberhard Pott, a top official at Germany's petroleum agency EBV, told the Platts news service.

All 28 members of the IEA have to agree before a second release of oil would take place.