BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The International Energy Agency (IEA) may bring more oil to the market if necessary, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the World Economic Forum, Trend reports.
“IEA made two big pushes in terms of energy security. We released substantial amount of oil stocks to the market to provide a buffer for oil prices. It is equal to about 1.5 million barrels per day. These are huge volumes. It is only 9 percent of all the stocks we have. If necessary, we can bring more oil to the market. We made a 10-point plan how we can in a hurry reduce the demand for oil and gas. One of our analyses show that if we bring in Europe the temperature 2 degrees lower, it is enough to save 20 billion cubic meters, which is equal to the gas coming from Nord Stream 1. So, demand-side measures do count not only in a hurry, but in the long term,” he said.
Birol pointed out that there are some short-term demand side measures also in terms of oil.
“It is about reducing the speed limit on the highways, or car-free Sundays. Renewables, nuclear power are all a part of the solution as well. We don’t need to choose only fossil fuels to address this problem. We need fossil fuels in the short-term, but let us not lock in our future by using this current situation as an excuse to justify some of the investments,” he explained.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn