3 million barrels is 4% of daily world oil production, which may significantly lower prices in the short term, say by $10/barrel for 1 year. Thus about $300 billion would be shifted from oil producers to oil users, both of whom tend to be richer than average people. If the average annual income of oil users and producers is $10,000, then 1 life-year may be equivalent to, say, $100,000. Thus, the effect on oil users would be about 3 million life-years, with a similar effect on producers, for a total of 6 million life-years.

Human News aims to devote 1 character to each 40,000 life-years, or 1000 average lives. Thus, this story has about (6 million) / 40,000 = 150 characters.