Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said that more than 40 energy assets in nine countries in the Middle East have suffered "severe or very serious" damage due to the war in the Middle East, which may lead to continued disruption of global supply chains after the conflict ends.
That means it will take some time for oil fields, refineries and pipelines to resume operations, Birol told the National Press Club in the Australian capital Canberra on Monday.
More than three weeks of conflict in the Middle East has upended entire energy supply chains, with the crucial Strait of Hormuz almost completely closed, sending prices for crude oil, natural gas and refined products soaring. Birol said the current round of supply disruptions is as powerful as the two major oil crises in the 1970s plus the natural gas crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He said: "Not only oil and natural gas, but also some important lifebloods of the global economy - such as petrochemicals, fertilizers, sulfur, helium - trade has been disrupted, which will have serious consequences for the global economy."
Birol said Asia is at the forefront of the crisis because it relies heavily on crude oil from the Middle East.
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