Global Energy Security Under Severe Threat Amid Middle East Conflict and Supply Crunches

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, warns that the world is currently enduring its most severe energy crisis in history, with little relief in sight more than seven months after its onset. Driven by the US-Israel war on Iran, the crisis has heavily disrupted global shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz—a crucial transit route accounting for 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

This disruption has triggered soaring fuel prices, fractured supply chains, and sparked widespread fears of a major energy shortage. According to Fatih Birol, global oil stocks are plummeting rapidly. Although G7 countries and members of the International Energy Agency have released strategic emergency reserves, the relief has proven temporary, leaving the global economy heavily strained.

Adding further pressure to the oil industry, the Russia-Ukraine war continues as both nations actively target each other’s energy infrastructure. Fatih Birol cautions that failure to resolve tensions in the Middle East could trigger catastrophic consequences for the global economy, predicting particularly difficult months ahead with the approach of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. He notes that the energy sector will require significant time to recover and concedes that the industry may never return to its former state.