The war with Iran has caused the most severe energy shock ever, and it could take six months or more for oil and gas flows from the Persian Gulf to fully recover. This forecast was given by the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, as reported by FT, writes UNN.
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Fatih Birol told the publication that this conflict is "the biggest threat to global energy security in history." He said that the amount of gas lost due to the fighting is twice the amount that Europe lost from Russia in 2022.
According to him, oil losses also exceeded the scale of the two oil shocks of the 1970s, which caused recessions and fuel rationing around the world.
He spoke after a week in which oil prices rose to nearly $120 a barrel, while Israel and Iran exchanged waves of missile strikes on vital energy hubs in the Persian Gulf, including the South Pars field and the large Ras Laffan complex in Qatar.
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However, he said, politicians and markets still underestimate the scale of the crisis. The problem will grow every day as long as energy flows from the Middle East, which exports a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, remain blocked due to Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Birol noted that even if the conflict ends and the strait reopens, it will "take a long time" for oil and gas fields, many of which have been shut down or damaged, to return to operation.
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