Forty energy assets in nine countries have been “severely or very severely damaged,” Fatih Birol told Australia’s National Press Club on Monday. “No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction.”
The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 together lost 10 million barrels per day, causing “major economic problems around the world, the recessions. And today, only as of today, we lost 11 million barrels per day,” he said.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas markets lost about 75 billion cubic meters, and have now lost about 140 BCM as a result of this crisis, he added.
The IEA released a historic 400 million barrels of stockpiled oil “to comfort the markets,” and is consulting with governments in Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East about releasing more, he said.