LONDON: The war in the Middle East is creating the biggest oil supply disruption in history, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, a day after the agency agreed to release a record volume of oil from strategic stockpiles.

Global supply is expected to drop by 8 million barrels per day in March due to the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel along the Iranian coast, since the US and Israel began a campaign of airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Middle East Gulf countries have cut total oil production by at least 10 million bpd — a volume equal to almost 10 percent of world demand — as a result of the conflict, the IEA said in its latest monthly oil market report, adding that without a rapid restart of shipping flows these losses were set to increase.

“Shut-in upstream production will take weeks and, in some cases, months to return to pre-crisis levels depending on the degree of field complexity and the timing for workers, equipment and resources to return to the region,” the agency said.