FILE PHOTO: International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol warned that global energy security is at risk unless oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz resume soon.
| Photo Credit:
YVES HERMAN
If the U.S. and Iran do not
increase oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz soon, the
world should worry about energy security, International Energy
Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Thursday.
“Oil security is still a critical issue,” Birol told a
Council on Foreign Relations event. “We should be worried, and I
am worried, if the situation does not improve in the next few
weeks.”
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and
Oman that normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s energy
shipments, has been mostly blocked since the conflict began on
February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Despite sharp energy price increases, Birol said several
factors have moderated the rise. These include China’s
stockpile, which totaled more than 1 billion barrels of oil
before the war, its oil conservation through increased use of
electric vehicles and public transport and an IEA-coordinated
release of up to 400 million barrels of oil.
But those fixes “can’t last forever,” said Birol, who has
said the Iran war is the worst energy disruption in history.
Birol said a boost in production by the United States, the
world’s top oil and gas producer, has helped. “The U.S. increase
in production is very good … The U.S. increased 1 million, 2
million but it cannot increase 10 million,” barrels per day of
crude oil output, he said.
The oil and gas supply crisis has hurt economies around the
world, but in an asymmetric way, he said.
“It is mainly Asia, because Asia was getting 80 to 90% of
this energy from the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. Japan and South
Korea have suffered, but developing countries including
Pakistan, Bangladesh and India have been hit hardest, he said.
Birol highlighted potential health risks for people in
developing countries, especially women, who have turned to
alternative cooking fuels including dung and wood with more
hazardous emissions as petroleum products have become
unaffordable.
Oil prices fell about $20 a barrel after the coordinated IEA
release in March, and the action signalled to markets that the
organization representing more than 30 countries could tap
reserves again if things get worse. “Even though it was huge,”
Birol said of the up to 400-million-barrel release, “It was only
20% of the stocks we have, 80% is still in the pocket.”
Published on July 17, 2026
