Oil, Gas Crisis ‘More Serious Than 1973, 1979, 2022 Together,’ IEA Chief Says

Fatih Birol said he was ’very pessemistic' about the situation facing the global economy due to the continued blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol in Brussels on March 6, 2026. Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said that the current oil and gas crisis is worse than those in the 70s and 2022 combined.

“I am very pessimistic because this war is blocking one of the arteries of the world economy. Not just oil and gas, but also fertilizers, petrochemicals, helium, and many other things,” he told French newspaper Le Figaro in comments published on April 6.