The Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (IEF), Joseph McMonigle, visited the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol on Tuesday at the IEA headquarters in Paris to discuss energy security and market stability.
The meeting follows an agreement on Friday by IEA member countries to a new release of oil from emergency reserves in response to the market turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, which fuelled a rise in prices and raised concerns over energy security. The new IEA emergency stock release is the second since the invasion and only the fifth in the IEA’s near 50-year history.
“Dialogue is ever more important as global energy markets react to geopolitical events, creating new realities for energy security policies and the global risk environment,” said Mr McMonigle, who also congratulated his IEA counterpart on his recent appointment to a third term.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine has severely impacted energy markets, which today are in the danger zone” said Dr Birol. “While immediate challenges to energy security have risen to the top of the agenda, it is imperative that we don’t let Russia’s aggression divert attention away from our efforts to address climate change.”
The IEF and the IEA are partners in a long-standing trilateral work program along with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), holding regular joint technical meetings to study short-, medium-, and long-term outlooks for the energy market, the interaction between physical and financial energy markets, and the outlooks for natural gas and coal markets.
