Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, has called for an emergency international energy summit to coordinate the global response to the Iran war’s devastating impact on world energy markets. Speaking in Canberra, the IEA chief said the scale of the crisis — equivalent to the combined force of the 1970s twin oil shocks and the Ukraine gas emergency — required a level of international coordination that could only be achieved through direct engagement between heads of state and energy ministers at the highest possible level. He said the IEA would support and facilitate such a summit.
Birol said that bilateral and multilateral consultations, while valuable, were insufficient to coordinate the complex, multi-dimensional response that the current crisis demanded. A dedicated international energy summit would allow world leaders to align their reserve release strategies, coordinate demand reduction policies, agree on frameworks for sharing available supply, and send a unified signal to global energy markets that the international community was acting with maximum effectiveness and determination.
The conflict began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran and has since removed 11 million barrels of oil per day and 140 billion cubic metres of gas from world markets. At least 40 Gulf energy assets have been severely damaged, and the Hormuz strait — through which approximately 20 percent of global oil flows — remains closed. The IEA deployed 400 million barrels from strategic reserves on March 11 — its largest emergency action in history.
Birol confirmed further releases were under consideration and said the IEA was consulting with governments across Europe, Asia, and North America. He called for demand-side policies including remote work, lower speed limits, and reduced commercial aviation. He met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and said Australia would be a natural host or co-sponsor for a regional energy summit focused on Asia-Pacific responses to the crisis.
Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the strait expired without result, and Tehran threatened retaliatory strikes on US and allied energy and water infrastructure. Birol concluded that the complexity and scale of the global response required called for a dedicated forum that could bring together all the key players — consuming nations, producing nations, and international institutions — to coordinate their actions. He said the IEA stood ready to support and facilitate such a summit as a matter of the highest priority.