South Korea has decided to release 3.17 million barrels of oil from its reserves from January to March next year in a globally coordinated effort to stabilize prices and stimulate economic recovery, the Ministry of Trade Industry and Energy said on Thursday.

The decision comes a month after the country agreed to participate in the joint release of oil reserves in response to a request from the United States.

"In addition to stabilizing oil prices, the latest release is expected to help resolve instability in refiners' oil supply and prevent supply disruptions amid higher demand for petroleum products during the winter season," Vice Minister Park Ki-young said.

Of the 3.17 million barrels – 3.3 percent of the total 97 million barrels of oil reserves – some 2.08 million barrels of crude will be released to local refiners through rental agreement, while the other 1.09 million barrels of petroleum products will be released through a bidding process.

The United States said last month it would release 50 million barrels, while India pledged to release 5 million barrels. Separately, Britain said it would allow the voluntary release of 1.5 million barrels from privately held reserves.