June 13 (Reuters) - The West's energy watchdog said on

Friday it was ready to release oil stocks should the market

experience shortages following Israel's attack on Iran, drawing

criticism from rival OPEC which said the statement would only

create fear in the market.

The International Energy Agency, representing oil

consumers, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries, representing some of the world's top oil producers,

have in recent years clashed on global oil demand trajectories

and the pace of the energy transition.

The IEA's head Fatih Birol said that while the oil market

was well supplied, the agency would be ready to act if needed,

adding that the agency's oil security system held 1.2 billion

barrels of oil in strategic and emergency reserves.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais criticised

Birol's statement, saying it "raises false alarms and projects a

sense of market fear through repeating the unnecessary need to

potentially use oil emergency stocks".

He said there were no developments in supply or market

dynamics that "warrant unnecessary measures".

Oil prices jumped sharply after Israel launched a barrage of

strikes across Iran on Friday, saying it had attacked nuclear

facilities and missile factories and killed a swathe of military

commanders in what could be a prolonged operation to prevent

Tehran building an atomic weapon.

Oil prices were trading 7% higher, their biggest daily spike

since 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

The United States and its allies, in coordination with

the IEA, last tapped emergency oil stocks in early 2022 after

the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a decision that OPEC heavily

criticised at the time.

While Israel has stopped short of targeting Iran's

energy facilities, market participants are wary the situation

may escalate further leading to damage to energy infrastructure

in Iran or its neighbours, as well as a blockade of the Strait

of Hormuz.

In September 2019, Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen

launched a drone attack on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil

processing plant, knocking 5.7 million bpd of Saudi oil

production offline and sending the oil market into a frenzy.

Iran's diplomatic relations with its Gulf neighbours

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have improved

significantly since that attack, though there are still some

concerns in the region of a repeat of the Abqaiq scenario.

"Oil has already spiked ... and its ultimate landing

point will likely hinge on whether Iran revives the 2019

playbook and targets tankers, pipelines, and key energy

facilities across the region," RBC Capital Markets analyst

Helima Croft said in a note following the Israeli attack.