The IEA thinks a supply crunch is coming
Production will not keep pace with demand within a decade unless drillers start spending money again, the agency says
A dearth of upstream investment is threatening global energy security and could lead to a 16m b/d supply shortfall by 2025, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The result would be more oil-price volatility. "We may be in trouble in a few years," says the IEA's executive director Fatih Birol. The agency represents the interests of Western energy consumers but its warning echoes those from Opec and other producers. As oil prices crested in 2014, upstream investment reached a record high of $0.78 trillion, the IEA's latest World Energy Outlook (WEO) says. Oil price weakness last year cut this to less than $0.6 trillion. The IEA expects another $140bn to go unspent in 2016. If so
Also in this section
16 April 2026
Demand for oil is falling because supply cannot meet it, not because it is no longer required
16 April 2026
The continent has an immediate opportunity to make the most of its energy resources by capturing gas that is currently slipping away
15 April 2026
The continent is seeing political pushback to climate plans, corporate reassessment of transition goals and rising supply risk in a fractured global order
15 April 2026
The Middle East energy crisis may turn out to be pivotal to the industry’s long-term expansion, but significant challenges still stand in its way
