IEA Director Fatih Birol: Oil and gas production recovery will take at least two years

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), pointed out that the war in Iran has disrupted oil and natural gas production, and restoring a significant portion of output may take up to two years. Birol mentioned on Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week” program that the recovery process will be relatively slow because the damage caused by the conflict has spread across oil fields, refineries, and pipelines throughout the Persian Gulf region. In addition, with the key energy transportation corridor—the Strait of Hormuz—almost closed, the market has consequently lost hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil and refined oil supply. Birol also stated: “People usually think that as soon as the strait reopens... production will return to previous levels. In my opinion, this view is misleading.”