Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, says the planet is living through the most serious energy crisis it has ever faced. More than seven months after it began, relief remains scarce.
Birol, the agency’s executive director, points to the war on Iran involving the United States and Israel as the force driving the crisis. The conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
That disruption has pushed fuel prices sharply higher, knocked supply chains off course and stirred fears of a serious energy shortage.
Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Talk to Al Jazeera, Birol said global oil stocks are declining quickly. G7 countries and IEA members have drawn on their strategic emergency reserves, but the relief has proved brief and the world economy is still feeling the strain.
The oil industry is under added pressure from the war between Russia and Ukraine, where both sides have targeted each other’s energy facilities.
Birol cautioned that failing to resolve tensions in the Middle East could carry serious consequences for the global economy. With winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, he warned that the months ahead will be difficult.
Recovery for the energy sector, he said, will take time, and he acknowledged that the industry will most likely never be the same again.
Birol’s assessment leaves little room for comfort: emergency reserves have already been tapped, oil inventories are falling, and the tensions driving the crisis have yet to be settled as the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter.
