{"id":651991,"date":"2026-05-06T17:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:39:16","slug":"global-energy-crisis-will-be-daily-issue-in-canada-soon-iea-chief-warns-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651991\/","title":{"rendered":"Global energy crisis will be \u2018daily issue\u2019 in Canada soon, IEA chief warns – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head\u00a0of\u00a0the International Energy Agency\u00a0says\u00a0the global energy crisis\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran\u00a0will hit Canadians soon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fatih Birol, who was taking part in a fireside chat with Energy Minister Tim\u00a0Hodgson\u00a0in Ottawa on Tuesday, said while other countries are already struggling, Canada hasn\u2019t\u00a0yet\u00a0been as hard hit as its allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Canada is a bit insulated, if I may say, (of) what\u2019s happening. In fact, big things are happening,\u201d Birol said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s not your daily issue here. But it will be your daily issue, soon. I can tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hodgson\u00a0pointed to agency modelling that he said suggests Canada\u2019s allies are weeks away\u00a0from\u00a0having to \u201cshut down operations\u201d because\u00a0of\u00a0a lack\u00a0of\u00a0energy. The minister also signalled the world may face additional\u00a0price\u00a0shocks if the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran\u00a0drags on.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I think in this country, we\u2019re a little better off,\u201d\u00a0Hodgson\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut we\u2019ll have a\u00a0price\u00a0impact, for sure. We\u2019ve already\u00a0seen\u00a0\u2014\u00a0we\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0seen\u00a0anything\u00a0yet\u00a0\u2014 if\u00a0we\u00a0don\u2019t get this situation under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some in attendance understood Hodgson\u2019s comments to mean he was signalling that prices would rise domestically, the minister\u2019s office told The Canadian Press after the event that he was referring to Canada\u2019s allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians should know that while the volatility\u00a0we\u00a0are seeing in the Strait\u00a0of\u00a0Hormuz is being felt worldwide, Canada is in an extremely strong and resilient position,\u201d\u00a0Hodgson\u00a0said in a statement through his office after the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the situation in the Middle East evolves, the federal government will continue to monitor the situation and will respond with measures to support affordability, because Canadians shouldn\u2019t pay for something they didn\u2019t cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:01
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFederal government continues looking at ways to support Canadian energy producers\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Last month, the federal government announced it was temporarily suspending the excise fuel tax to help Canadians weather the spike in fuel prices\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran.<\/p>\n

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Birol called the energy crisis\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran\u00a0the worst the world has ever\u00a0seen. He explained how the previous crises in 1973 and 1979 lost a combined 10 million\u00a0of\u00a0barrels per day.<\/p>\n

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Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in this crisis,\u00a0we\u00a0already lost 14 million barrels per day,\u201d Birol said. \u201cSo, much more than two\u00a0of\u00a0the oil crisis put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said the energy crisis right now has already lost more natural gas availability than when Russia cut off the flow\u00a0of\u00a0natural gas to Europe in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not only oil and gas. It is also fertilizers, petrochemicals, helium, sulphur,\u201d Birol said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0will understand how important they are in our daily lives in a couple months\u2019 time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil tankers in the Persian Gulf have for months been unable to safely pass through the Strait\u00a0of\u00a0Hormuz to reach global distribution points. Nor have Iranian oil exports, due to a U.S. blockade. Normally, about a fifth\u00a0of\u00a0the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas transits the waterway.<\/p>\n

With no way to export the oil it is pumping out and diminishing room to store it at home, experts say\u00a0Iran\u00a0may be forced to dramatically reduce or cease production\u00a0from\u00a0some\u00a0of\u00a0its wells, perhaps beginning in as little as two weeks.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s fireside chat came as five\u00a0of\u00a0Canada\u2019s largest oilsands producers and clean energy groups separately criticized the federal and Alberta governments this week for slow progress on finalizing aspects\u00a0of\u00a0an energy deal signed last year.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The pact pairs the prospect\u00a0of\u00a0a new oil pipeline to the West Coast with several environmental measures, including industrial carbon pricing and an agreement for reducing methane emissions.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

In a statement published Monday, the Oil Sands Alliance \u2014 formerly known as the Pathways Alliance \u2014 said the deal was a good first step, but progress has been too slow.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal events over the past few months highlight the importance\u00a0of\u00a0affordable, reliable energy in people\u2019s lives and to the health and well-being\u00a0of\u00a0national economies, including Canada\u2019s,\u201d the oilsands producers wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0are at risk\u00a0of\u00a0letting this opportunity pass Canada by. Because\u00a0of\u00a0complex regulatory processes, uncompetitive carbon frameworks and fiscal systems that do not incent growth, there has not been a major new greenfield oilsands project sanctioned in Canada since 2013 and investment has dramatically declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:08
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInternational Energy Agency says global economy faces \u2018major, major threat\u2019 from Iran war\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

But Birol said Tuesday the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran\u00a0will have global economic implications, which Canada is not sheltered\u00a0from.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf Canada\u2019s future or current customers are economically weak, their ability and appetite to buy energy or other things will be weaker,\u201d Birol said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I believe if this crisis continues this way, it will weaken global economic growth, and every country will be affected by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their own letter Tuesday, the heads\u00a0of\u00a0six climate groups called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to deliver on policies that \u201cwill scale domestic clean energy solutions, reduce emissions and set Canada up for economic success in a rapidly decarbonizing world\u201d while other countries scramble to pivot to new oil suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow more than ever,\u00a0we\u00a0are seeing governments simultaneously expedite their plans to scale up clean energy solutions \u2014 such as building wind and solar energy projects, or shifting as much transportation as possible to electric vehicles \u2014 in order to shield their populations\u00a0from\u00a0future oil and gas supply shocks,\u201d the leaders wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, those in Canada who continue to argue that the\u00a0war\u00a0presents an opportunity to expand Canada\u2019s oil and gas exports, including to new Asian markets, are making a consequential miscalculation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head\u00a0of\u00a0the International Energy Agency\u00a0says\u00a0the global energy crisis\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0war\u00a0in\u00a0Iran\u00a0will hit Canadians soon. Fatih Birol, who was taking part in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,195831,214918,22230,714,83096],"class_list":["post-651991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-fatih-birol","tag-global-energy-crisis","tag-international-energy-agency","tag-politics","tag-tim-hodgson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}