The head of the IEA announced the first global energy crisis Russia is the main supplier of oil and gas in the world, and potential sanctions

The world is experiencing the first ever global energy crisis, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said during a briefing during a visit to Vienna. The broadcast was conducted on Twitter by the Austrian Ministry of Climate Protection.

“I am sure that we are in the middle of the first global energy crisis. In the 1970s we saw the oil crisis, which had big consequences for the economy and inflation. But it was only oil,” he said.

He recalled that RUSSIA is the main exporter of oil and gas in the world, as well as a major player in the market of materials for the energy sector. At the same time, in his opinion, compared with the 1970s, the world is in a different reality, there are electric cars and more opportunities for using renewable energy sources.

Birol also said that possible sanctions against the Russian energy sector and the potential response to them will have implications for the entire global market.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) was created in the 1970s at the initiative of the United States in opposition to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In addition to the United States, the IEA includes CANADA, Australia, Japan, India, South Africa, Indonesia and most European countries.

The discussion of sanctions against the Russian energy sector started in the West after the start of a special operation in Ukraine. In early March, the United States banned the import of oil and gas from Russia, Canada and the United Kingdom announced similar plans.

The European Union has been discussing ways to reduce its dependence on energy from Russia since late February, but a number of countries, including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, have said they will not be able to quickly abandon supplies from Russia.

In early April, Brussels imposed restrictions on coal supplies from Russia and is discussing the possibility of an oil embargo against Moscow. At the same time, a number of countries, including Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, express concerns about such a measure, while Hungary strongly opposes it. The prime minister of the latter, Viktor Orban, compared the ban on the supply of Russian oil to "an atomic bomb that they want to drop on the economy" of the country.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly said that the oil embargo will negatively affect everyone. So, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that such a decision would “hit everyone”, and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak predicted Brent prices up to $300 per barrel in such a scenario.