IEA Warns of Unresolved Global Energy Security Threats

Global energy supply is still in danger of shocks, the International Energy Agency’s chief has warned ahead of a political gathering to discuss energy matters in London.

The “lessons from Ukraine have not yet been fully understood,” Fatih Birol said, as quoted by the Financial Times, noting the “three golden rules” for energy security. These include diversification of energy supply, political stability to motivate long-term energy investments, and global cooperation.

Despite these golden rules, Europe and the UK have struggled to ensure their energy supply security, suggesting the three are easier said than done. Now, Trump’s tariff offense is further complicating the situation by affecting the last “golden rule” on cooperation. Per Birol, the tariff war will also affect demand for oil and gas, although he did not elaborate on the direction in which demand would be affected.

Political leaders are gathering in London this week to discuss energy security with energy industry representatives. These include both oil and gas majors such as Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Equinor, as well as alternative energy producers, namely Danish wind turbine leaders Ørsted and Vestas. Power suppliers, including French EDF, Italian Enel, and British Octopus, will also attend the gathering.

“We are going to look at traditional energy security risks, such as [the loss] of oil and gas, but also emerging risks such as supply chain [disruption] and [the loss of] critical minerals,” the IEA’s Birol said.

Speaking of critical minerals, the FT noted in its report that Chinese companies were going to be absent from the gathering. “We invited China, but unfortunately they were not able to accept due to calendar reasons,” Birol, whose IEA co-organized the event with the British government, said. “We wish everybody was at the table, but the countries attending the meeting make up three-quarters of the world’s GDP, which in my view is not bad at all.”

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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