IEA executive director Fatih Birol, far right, at the G7 meeting in May with, from left, US president Joe Biden, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen
IEA highlights energy divergence as milestone 50th nears
Energy body punches above its weight as it provides direction amid crossroads
The IEA will celebrate its 50th birthday in late 2024. The agency was born out of the energy crisis caused by the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, which led leading oil producers to suspend sales to major consumers. This, plus price increases announced by Opec, ushered in a period of stagflation and economic turmoil. In 1972, the price of Dubai crude (Brent had not been invented back then) averaged $1.90/bl. In 1974, it averaged $10.41/bl. In the ten years before the Yom Kippur War, global inflation averaged 3.6pc/yr; in the ten years afterwards—which included another major price spike in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war—it averaged 11.6pc. Industrialised countries,
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
