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JENNA BEN-YEHUDA: Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. My name is Jenna Ben-Yehuda, and I’m the executive vice president here at the Atlantic Council. It’s my pleasure to welcome you here today to our AC Front Page conversation. AC Front Page is the Atlantic Council’s premier live platform for world leaders tackling today’s greatest challenges.
We’re really honored to welcome Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, for today’s discussion, together with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center and our Geoeconomics Center. Today’s event also marks the very first convening of the Atlantic Council IMF-World Bank week programming. And there’s really no better way to begin the week than with this timely and important conversation.
This is part of our broader slate of programming taking place all week, where we will host over seventy-five events with finance ministers, senior policymakers, and CEOs from around the world here at the Council and on site, live at our studios at the IMF, and at the World Bank. I encourage everyone to check out our website and our new Atlantic Council app on the iPhone and Android stores for details on this week’s event.
I’m also really delighted to welcome Helima Croft as today’s moderator. Helima is the managing director and global head of commodity strategy and Middle East and North Africa research at RBC Capital Markets. She’s also a member of the Atlantic Council board of directors.
We know today’s conflict comes at a truly critical juncture for global energy security. The conflict in the Middle East, including disruptions to oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, has triggered extraordinary volatility across energy markets. While the two-week ceasefire announced just last week briefly raised hopes for stabilization, those expectations were quickly dashed following the collapse of US-Iran talks and the announcement of a US naval blockade of the strait. Prices have surged back above the one-hundred-dollar per barrel rate. And with transit volumes still severely constrained and escalation risks rising, the security of global energy supply chains remains really a central and immediate concern.
So the International Energy Agency has responded to this moment with historic measures to the crisis, including announcing the strategic release of 400 million barrels from emergency reserves on March 11. And has emphasized the importance of coordinated international action at this pivotal moment for energy security. At the same time, long-term trends such as electrification, the rapid expansion of renewable energy, and surging demand from technologies like AI and hyperscale datacenters, are transforming global energy systems and shaping the path of the energy transition.
And there is really no one better equipped to speak to these global challenges than our distinguished guest here today, Dr. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency. Since taking the helm of the IEA, he has modernized the agency, expanding its mandate beyond oil to electricity, gas, renewables, and critical minerals, now covering over 80 percent of global energy consumption. He is a long-time advocate for energy access and sustainability. Dr. Birol previously oversaw the global energy outlook as chief economist. He’s been recognized on Time 100 and by Forbes, and has numerous international honors, including the French Legion of Honor and the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun. He is also a truly valued member and friend of the Atlantic Council, having generously shared his insights with us on so many occasions.
Today, we’ll hear from Dr. Birol on a wide range of topics related to global energy security, the conflict in the Middle East, and the implications on energy policy, as well as IEA’s broader agenda relating to renewables, emerging technologies, and the energy transition. So with that, Helima, let me turn it to you.
HELIMA CROFT: Thank you so much. And thank you everyone who is watching online and in the audience today. I just have one housekeeping note, that we will be going to questions. So please submit your questions to AskAC.org, and we will try to get through as many as we can.
Dr. Birol, thank you so much for joining us today, on such a momentous day. I’m just wondering if we could start our conversation by just sort of laying out the scale of the crisis. Many people have talked about this being the greatest energy crisis that we have witnessed. Can you talk about just how much energy is currently disrupted when we think about not just flows through the Strait of Hormuz, but also in terms of refining capacity?
FATIH BIROL: So, first of all, thank you very much for inviting me to this distinguished fireside chat. Helima, this is great to be with you in this context and discussion.
When the events started at the Gulf, I told my colleagues, this a very serious story and very sensitive story. So we don’t talk to press. We don’t make many public announcements. So three weeks, when you look at your records, neither me, my colleagues make any statements. But after three weeks, I thought the significance and the scale of the challenge has not been well understood, which is becoming very risky. So we started to speak.
Now, what I said is the following after three weeks of the event: This is the greatest energy security threat in history. So we hit several energy crises in the last few decades. The top three of them, according to size, in 1973 the oil crisis; 1979, the second one in oil crisis; and then after the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in 2024 the gas crisis in Europe.
So in 1973 and 1979, we lost each of them about five million barrels per day for oil. So five there and five there, all together ten million, and we know that this crisis led to recession in many countries, the high—very high inflation, and for several developing countries they fell into the debt spiral for years and it ended up with serious economic and political consequences, and in both of them five million, five million, ten [million].
As of today, we lost thirteen million barrels per day even as of today. Tomorrow may be bigger. In terms of gas, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we lost about seventy-five [billion cubic meters (bcm)], and today we are much higher than that.
So in addition to energy, oil, and gas, this is the largest ever. Plus, two more things. We have also or we are losing every day the vital commodities which are very important for the global economy such as the fertilizers, such as the petrochemicals, such as helium and others, which are critical for different supply chains. This is one.
And the other one—again, plus, again, is that we are seeing several energy facilities are damaged. Even tomorrow, everything turns back. There is a resolution of the issues. It will take some time.
We can come back later to see how long would it take for different countries, different facilities. So all in all, it is the reason why I have described this situation as the largest energy security threat in history.
HELIMA CROFT: Dr. Birol, are you surprised, given—
FATIH BIROL: Just call me Fatih.
HELIMA CROFT: Yeah, Fatih.
FATIH BIROL: We know each other, yes.
HELIMA CROFT: Yes.
FATIH BIROL: Yeah.
HELIMA CROFT: Fatih, given the scale of this disruption, are you surprised that prices are below the levels that we saw in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
Like, is there a disconnect between how people in the market are perceiving the crisis and the reality on the ground?
FATIH BIROL: First of all, prices are, in my view, already high but they are not reflecting the severity of the problem. I agree there is a disconnect there.
But I think soon we will see that they will converge which is, of course, extremely, extremely sensitive issue for the global economy. This is my main worry. Since we are in the IMF-World Bank week here, this is my biggest very global economy and the challenges. Especially, again, I come back for the emerging and developing countries that import oil and gas.
HELIMA CROFT: You coordinated the biggest stockpile release, 400 million barrels, in March. Can you talk a little bit about the diplomatic effort behind that? Because a number of these countries don’t see eye to eye on a variety of issues.
So how challenging was to get everybody across the finish line for the release? And if we go further into this conflict, how strong are the shock absorbers in terms of additional barrels that can be deployed?
FATIH BIROL: So you are right, this is the largest ever in our history, and this is a record, record both in terms of the amount of oil we released to the markets and a record in terms of how quickly we were able to do it.
And there is—it is no secret that today the international landscape, the relationship between the governments, are a bit different compared to previous years. There is a bit of tension. But we made a lot of energy diplomacy, if I may say so, talking with the countries. And I should here thank, of course, US Secretary Chris Wright, who was very helpful. I’m going to see him very soon this afternoon. But also others—Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi; and also G7 this year is chaired by France, G7 with President Macron. They were all very helpful to bring these 400 million barrels to the market. And as soon as I announced this, as soon as it came out, prices went down by eighteen dollars, which is obviously good news. But this is not a solution. This is just, like, reducing the—reducing the pain.
And I should tell you that this is one issue which bothers me lately, because this oil is sitting in the market now, slowly but surely, both in terms of crude, in terms of products, but some countries are buying these stocks and aiding their stocks and, at the same time, putting some export restrictions, which is not helpful at all for all of the very fragile global energy markets.
HELIMA CROFT: And do you anticipate that if you have to do another coordinated release, that you can get everybody on the same page to do so? Or are we likely to see individual countries releasing?
FATIH BIROL: So individual countries. I think Japan is going to release some products, because Japan in Asia is at the forefront, as we all know. And it was—even though it was the biggest oil stock release that I announced in the month of March, it is only 20 percent. Still we have 80 percent in our pocket. When and if we are going to release again, this will be depending on our assessment with the discussion with our member countries. But, of course, it’s an important decision. It will take some time to consult with all of our member countries and understand the market dynamics. I hope—I very much hope we don’t need to do it, but if it is—if it is needed, we are ready to act immediately.
HELIMA CROFT: I mean, Fatih, you’re here, this is the start of IMF-World Bank week. Can you talk us through the economic impacts by various geographies. Like, who is getting hit hardest first? And there is this sort of view that the United States is more insulated. Do you subscribe to that position?
FATIH BIROL: I can tell you, the global energy markets, global oil markets, there is one price, more or less. No country is immune to this. I can tell you this. Everybody will be touched. But some will be less affected than the others. At the forefront is—I mean, before going to Asia, some of the Middle East countries, they are going to be badly affected. Again, in even Middle East some may be more affected than the others.
For example, Iraq. We don’t talk much about Iraq, but Iraq is a major energy exporter. And Iraq’s—the government revenues, more than 90 percent comes from oil exports. And with these oil revenues, they pay almost fifty million people’s salaries, the pensions, and so on. It is going to be a big problem, because Iraq lost two-thirds of its revenues. Because Iraq, unlike some other countries, they don’t have storage capacity. They are shutting in the fields. And all of you, you know as much as I do, this is—the Iraq political situation is very fragile. I am worried about Iraq. But they’re moving. And some other countries, of course, in Middle East, Bahrain is one of them, Lebanon. I am very worried about Lebanon.
Then if you move further to Asia, especially developing countries in Asia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, of course, India, and others. It goes to also even the richer countries, Japan, Korea. They will have serious problems because they are relying heavily on both oil but also LNG. And it will come to Europe. It is coming to Europe, in terms of the prices and the available products. I wouldn’t be surprised if in Europe we would have to go through some very big difficulties in terms of especially jet fuel and diesel. So it will affect everybody because of the availability and the prices, and therefore the global economy. So we will see everybody, one after another, will revise their economic growth expectations. Inflation will get a strong push up in many countries. Of course, it will all depend on how long this conflict will last.
HELIMA CROFT: And, just as a quick follow on to that, when we talk about duration, even if this war ended tomorrow, how long will it take to get facilities back up online, to un-bottleneck these supply chains?
FATIH BIROL: This is the—perhaps one of the most critical issues, and different than the past. Many of the facilities are badly damaged. We are monitoring them, all of them. As of today more than eighty facilities have been damaged—oil fields, gas fields, refineries, terminals, and so on. And out of this, eighty-plus, more than one-third are severely and very severely damaged. So it will take some time. And in some countries, it may be easier—or less difficult, I should say—such as Saudi Arabia and others. But, again, in Iraq, it will take some time. Kuwait, it will take some more time. Especially countries which don’t have the—that they don’t have the financial muscles—strong financial muscle, it will take some time. And the shut-ins will take some time. So I don’t expect it, and our analysis show, coming back to where we were before the crisis. It may take some time, maybe up to two years.
HELIMA CROFT: Up to two years. I think that is something that would, you know, shock some people in the market, that think it might be a faster return. Fatih, you’re here for the IMF-World Bank week. There is an announcement—it’s already, I think, hit the wires—about this new coordination effort between the IEA, the IMF, and World Bank to deal with the economic impacts of this war. Can you talk a little bit about that?
FATIH BIROL: Yes. We had an agreement that we are building a coalition, three major international organizations—International Energy Agency, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Together with Kristalina Georgieva and Ajay Banga. This afternoon we are going to make the details of the announcement. Announcement has already made. We are going to help, especially, developing countries how to protect them from a major economic—negative economic impacts of it, through energy policies, through economic policies, and through providing them information in a timely manner and guiding them through this—or navigate them through this difficult process. And I think this is a good one. There was another example during the COVID crisis. We were not involved, but the WHO, World Trade Organization, was involved. It’s a similar exercise. We are going to start this afternoon.
HELIMA CROFT: That’s fantastic. Before we go to questions, and everyone start getting your questions ready, I want to go through the ideas about, sort of, how do we come out of this better? And after the oil shock in the 1970s, it led to the creation of the IEA. What type of institutions or new mechanisms need to be built in the aftermath of this? Is it simply do we need more east-west pipelines? Like, we think about Saudi Arabia’s investment in that critical pipeline being the one lifeline that we’ve really seen in terms of volumes coming out of the Strait of Hormuz. Like, how do we think about the investments that need to protect us from future disruptions?
FATIH BIROL: So there will be definitely alternative routes. Just give me first—let me give this first answer. Different pipeline routes, different trade routes. And a footnote here, what Saudi Arabia has achieved through the East-West Pipeline and bringing so much oil to the markets is remarkable, really. I have to—I want to once again congratulate them. And there are many other efforts.
But I am also thinking the following, Helima. When we look at the 1973-1979, there was a major global policy response to that. And it brought new—to redraw the energy map. I give it maybe three examples.
One, there was a big wave of the construction of nuclear power plants, huge, in the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, Canada. And almost a hundred—I think they amount to 170, 180 gigawatts built in a very short period of time, and almost half of the power plants we have now in the world were built as a response to this—the crisis. This is one.
Second, the—I don’t know if there is anybody from UK in this—in this crowd, but—
HELIMA CROFT: Tag.
FATIH BIROL: OK. OK, there are some UK colleagues. The North Sea—North Sea was born. So North Sea production was almost zero, and in a very short period of time it came to the six million barrels per day as a result of the tax incentives, as a result of the, I don’t know, faster permitting and licensing.
And a third—maybe a third one, car manufacturing industry went through a major, major transformation . . . So in the—before the crisis, an average car needed about twenty liters of gasoline to go a hundred kilometers. So, twenty liters to go a hundred kilometers. After that, they became more efficient, and they need ten liters to go a hundred kilometers through the car fuel efficiency.
So there were many, many reactions to that. And I expect this time there will be similar reactions from governments, from industry to—in order to—in order to improve the security—energy security, economic security—and sovereignty of those countries. There will be a reaction.
HELIMA CROFT: So, Fatih, if you had to go for your top three policy recommendations coming out of this, what would they be?
FATIH BIROL: I have thirty-three.
HELIMA CROFT: OK. So, OK.
FATIH BIROL: I give you one. I give you one.
HELIMA CROFT: OK.
FATIH BIROL: I have one golden rule for energy security; that is improvement towards diversification. Diversify what you—from whom you get your energy. Diversify your energy mix. Diversify your trade routes. Diversification is key. Don’t—overreliance on one single country, one single trade route, one single field is always risky. Europe paid a big money cost for that over gas and Russia.
And the funny thing is—I tell you maybe one more thing—is what happened in 1970s, why Europe fell into Russia, it was a reaction to Europe thought we are too much reliant on Middle East so we went to Russia. They went to Russia. So it means diversify, but you should also think from whom to whom you diversify. Is your—the new country, new field, new trade route you diversify is really safer than the one you are going to diversify from? So you have to make a good—a good choice there, a good policy there. And therefore, my number one golden rule for energy security is diversification.
HELIMA CROFT: OK. I’m just about to go to questions, but my last one while people queue them up, diversification is the imperative. What are the other chokepoints that we’re not talking about right now? I mean, how do we think about the critical minerals chokepoints?
FATIH BIROL: So this is—for me, you started this conversation by saying that the—you think—or, do I think that the scale of this problem is well understood, the current crisis. I said no and tried to explain why I thought so. But I think the world doesn’t understand the scale of the challenge of the concentration of the critical minerals. And some people think critical minerals are only used for the electric cars, panels; this is completely wrong. Those minerals are—it is lithium. It is cobalt. It is radioactive metals. They are used in the entire economy, from defense to manufacturing, manufacturing to medicine, everything. And today when we look around the world, both in terms of mining but much more importantly in terms of the refining and processing, there is a huge concentration there.
We are dealing with one Hormuz now. There may be several Hormuz just waiting if you aren’t able to diversify this critical mineral supply chains. I would pick up this one is another chokepoint.
HELIMA CROFT: OK. Well, we are now ready. OK, people are ready to go. In the front right here. Wait for a microphone.
Q: Dr. Fatih, the 1973 crisis, the 1979 crisis, and the current crisis were sparked by political conflict. And when I look at the financial markets, Wall Street experts, no one seems to have assessed the risk that we are experiencing now.
FATIH BIROL: Yes.
Q: One other thing that I have seen this time—I’ve been in the 1973 crisis in the 1979. Now we have a new factor, drones and missiles. Even if you need to establish new pipelines, new routes, this military technology is going to disrupt the oil markets, and I would like your views on it.
HELIMA CROFT: It’s a fantastic question.
FATIH BIROL: So we hit—last February we hit our—every two years we bring all the ministers, and the governments, and the CEOs in Paris. We have very two years a big gathering there. Here the Secretary Chris Wright was there, and the Japanese, the Europeans, Africans, Brazilians, everybody. I remember I started my opening speech by, the world is becoming a dangerous place. Why I said it? Because underlying the critical importance of energy security. Now, this is so risky, some of the energy decisions we have taken, that we are paying the cost of it. I give you one thing that I don’t understand how we have managed to do this, as a world. Global economy is $110 trillion. Hundred ten trillion dollar global economy is held to hostage of a state of fifty kilometers by a couple of hundred people that are with the guns, and the global economy is getting a big, big, big hit. So how we built this system? We have to think about this.
We have said it as IEA many times, Strait of Hormuz. Many times, in all of our—in the—at the cost of being so much boring, we have said this. We also mentioned Malacca, for example, which is another strait that is also, for other reasons, important, or Bab al-Mandeb, and others. So there is a need to rethink of this—reducing these risks. And this will come, since the world is becoming dangerous. And, indeed, I see, compared to previous years, the dark and long shadow of geopolitics is overall the energy sector. Energy is not anymore part of economy—for the time being, at least.
And when the countries in the future make commitments, long-term commitments, for buying this fuel, building this nuclear power together, whom they are going to choose their partners will not be only depending on the cost of this technology and how good this technology is, but how reliable my partner is, and whether or not there will be—in the future could be a problem for me. The energy security risk premium will be much important in tomorrow’s energy trait around the world, I should say.
HELIMA CROFT: OK. Let’s go to—let me go to back, right there. Sir, you. Yes.
Q: Thank you very much. Hugo Dixon, Reuters.
Nobody’s mentioned the word “tolls” yet.
HELIMA CROFT: Oh.
FATIH BIROL: What?
HELIMA CROFT: Tolls.
Q: Tolls. And so my question for you is, what do you think the impact will be if this conflict comes to an end, but Iran is imposing a toll on energy that comes through the Strait of Hormuz?
FATIH BIROL: So, as we discussed, International Energy Agency, in order to address this big crisis we are facing today, we made at least two big steps. One is releasing the stocks, four hundred million barrels. Second, we also said to countries, you have to find a way to reduce your demand in a hurry, making some concrete decisions. And some of the countries are picking it up. In some countries working from home becomes mandatory. In some countries, they are making this public transport for free, and others. But we have always said the single most important solution to this problem is the free flow of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the most important one.
So I believe, according to the international maritime law, it should be free, the flow of goods in the international sea lanes. Whether or not between the countries there are some agreements or not, some temporary or not. It’s a different story. But as an energy person, I am not a military person. I am not a politician. I would like to see that the oil and gas goes from country A to B in a free way, and in an uninterrupted way. This is what I would like to say.
HELIMA CROFT: OK. Let’s go to the other side of the room. And let’s go to the front here, madam.
Q: Thank you.
Question is about demand destruction. Thank you. If you could speak a bit about the investment horizon, and the fact that, in response to this crisis, people are thinking about, I’m going to switch to an EV, one; and, second, I’m going to invest in energy efficiency, like you mentioned. If I am an investor in oil and gas, and I see, perhaps, that my demand is not going to be there, how is that going to impact oil and gas markets going forward? Thank you.
FATIH BIROL: So, as I said, I expect a major response to this crisis. Different countries, different responses. But some of them are clear in my mind. I expect that the—only the strongly coming back of nuclear power will be reinforced. Four years ago, we said nuclear is set to make a comeback, as IEA. And it is coming back. But it will reinforce it. And maybe the [small modular reactors (SMRs)] coming to market will be a bit faster than it was before.
Second, I expect renewable energies will grow even faster. For example, in Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the annual installments of nuclear—installments of renewables, solar and wind, increased by a factor of three, because of fast permitting, because of the licensing, and because of other measures government has taken. And these were not driven by the climate change, or other—basically, by energy security. Number three, I completely agree with you. In several parts of the world the car manufacturing industry responded to the 1970s crisis about the increase the efficiency, given the technology. Now electric cars, especially in Asia, developing Asia, may get an additional boost.
And I also expect, temporary or not, in some countries—it will be surprising for some—we may see the coal use may increase because of it being a secure one. And for natural gas, I should tell you this. Natural gas, we recognize natural gas as a flexible, secure, and affordable fuel. Secure, flexible, and affordable fuel. But, Helima, in the last four years, we had two major natural gas crises. One Russia, and now the second one. So natural gas industry needs to work hard to regain these adjectives I just mentioned a few minutes ago to really—to prove to the consumers, the importers, they are really flexible, reliable, and affordable. Because the growth of natural gas would be depending on new countries, especially in the developing countries, big infrastructure—the pipelines and the terminals and others—whether they would make these investments now after this question mark of the—in four years, two major natural gas crises is the question.
So these are certain things coming to my mind, and what Helima mentioned in the beginning, that we may see different routes of oil and gas exports here, and this will be another way of responding to the crisis we have.
HELIMA CROFT: I think we have time for one more question, and so we did two on this side of the room so this side of the room also gets the last word. You, sir, in the middle, second row.
Q: Thank you. I’m Yerevan Saeed, nonresident fellow here at the Atlantic Council.
My question for you is about Iran. You correctly pointed out about how Iraq has not been able to export oil.
FATIH BIROL: Iraq or Iran?
Q: Iraq.
FATIH BIROL: Iraq, yes.
Q: Yes, 70 percent oil production is down, and the only route is through the ITP, Iraqi-Turkish Pipeline.
So the pipeline is going to expire on July 27, and do you see any kind of agreement between or a new treaty between Turkey and Iraq? And also I wonder if there is any role by your agency to help Iraq and Turkey and also the Kurdistan region to reach an agreement for the diversification of their oil export routes? Thank you.
FATIH BIROL: So you are right. First of all, I hope that this pipeline which proved to be a very vital one for Iraq, for Turkey, and for the region, I hope it will be running a long time with full capacity. This is number one.
But number two, for Iraq, we work with Iraq very closely. In fact, one of our senior managers at the IEA is from Iraq, Dr. Ali Al-Saffar—
HELIMA CROFT: Oh, he’s fantastic.
FATIH BIROL: You know him? He’s a—he’s a very good guy, supporting the wrong football team. He’s a good guy.
But Iraq is a country. I mean, I don’t want to talk so much about one single country, but huge resources—but huge resources. Oil, gas, solar, whatever you want, but, unfortunately, not making the most out of it for different reasons.
What I imagine pinpoint Iraq in my introductory remarks is that the—already the political situation is a bit fragile, and this economic hardship will hit the country so strongly that I am worried that this rather fragile stability will get a further attack.
So this is my biggest worry. But we work with Iraq, with the minister, with the prime minister, and I hope that soon we will start to go to Iraq, go to Baghdad once again, and work with them to bring a new roadmap for the country how we can recover the country once again.
HELIMA CROFT: Fatih, we’ve got two minutes left, and I should probably take one question that came in online really asking the question about—you mentioned Iraq, but for these developing countries that are importing nations, how do we build resiliency for these countries, going forward?
FATIH BIROL: I think those countries that are going to suffer—and we talk about the US, Europe, Japan—but, again, they will suffer the most because they are importing oil and gas and their financial muscles are much weaker, their currencies are weaker, and I am worried that in some of the countries, those economic hardships will result in some political consequences of those countries.
So but in the—first, in the short term, we are—again, this is the reason that we come together with colleagues from the IMF and the World Bank short-term measures, suggestions, how we can navigate through this problem. But in the longer term, they have to generate electricity as much as possible from their domestic resources, make the most out of it, whatever they have; reduce their reliance, and diversify the—diversify the oil and gas and other energy imports they have—don’t rely on one single country, whoever this country is; and make sure that you use energy much—as much as possible in an efficient way.
So these are the suggestions in a nutshell. But, again, I would urge all of us to think about these emerging and developing countries’ economic and political stability. They are at the forefront.
HELIMA CROFT: Fatih, I cannot thank you enough for sharing this time with us today. We know you are so busy. There are so many demands on your time. You have been always so good to the Atlantic Council. We cannot wait to continue to work with you. And thank you for all you do.
FATIH BIROL: Thank you very much.
HELIMA CROFT: Thank you.
FATIH BIROL: Thank you.
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Image: The IEA’s Fatih Birol speaks on global energy market resilience in a moment of crisis at Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington, DC on April 13, 2026.