Press Quotes

11 June 2010, Daily Mail
Remarking that 90% of non-OPEC oil production growth is expected to come from offshore drilling over the next decade, Fatih Birol, the IEA Chief Economist said “Offshore is one of the very important and last frontiers in the oil business where the supermajors can go and invest and make money. This may be at risk if the trends continue as they are now. In all these regions I get news about new regulations, new standards and so on which would at least post­pone and delay things”.

07 June 2010, Bloomberg
International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol called on leaders of the Group of 20 Nations to fulfill their pledge to end fossil-fuel subsidies, a move he said will cut oil demand and greenhouse-gas emissions. Birol said that subsidies just for consumption totalled $557 billion in 2008 and stopping aid by 2020 would reduce global oil demand by 6.5 million barrels a day. “This is the only single policy item that could make such a major change in the global energy and climate-change game” said Birol.

07 June 2010, Bloomberg
Fatih Birol, the Chief Economist at the IEA, warned that due to the biggest spill in U.S. history the offshore production growth may be slower than expected, pushing up prices. He said: “There could be definitely a negative impact on the offshore product growth, which may in turn mean upward pressure on prices”.

06 June 2010, The Financial Times
According to the IEA exhaustive study on the financial assistance devoted to oil, natural gas and coal consumption, the world economy spends more than $550bn in energy subsidies a year. Commenting the report that will be discussed at the G20 Summit this month, Fatih Birol, the IEA Chief Economist, said: “I see fossil fuel subsidies as the appendicitis of the global energy system which needs to be removed for a healthy, sustainable development future. Phasing out oil, natural gas and coal subsidies” – he added – “would increase energy efficiency and push investments in clean energy sources”.

27 May 2010, People Daily, China
During the 2010 OECD Forum and Ministerial Meeting which focus on innovation and green growth, Fatih Birol, the IEA Chief Economist, highlighted that developing countries should take the opportunities to think about how they construct the mobility system and what power plant will be built, in a bid to avoid the faults most OECD countries made. He added “Emerging economies are in face of making these big decisions and if they make right decisions, then they can have a better future than OECD countries”

27 May 2010, Global Times
At the sidelines of the 2010 OECD Forum and Ministerial Meeting, the Chief Economist at the IEA, Fatih Birol said the emerging countries can have better future in terms of green growth compared with developed countries. “Emerging countries have a big potential, because they are now establishing the infrastructure”, Birol added.

25 May 2010, Nasdaq
Speaking at the OECD Annual Forum, Fatih Birol, the IEA Chief Economist said” The era of cheap oil is over. We have to get used to higher oil prices even if there is no crisis or crunch”. Birol added that oil production in non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is reaching a peak and the bulk of oil predication growth will have to come from a few countries in the Middle East.

12 May 2010, Hurriyet Daily News, Istanbul
Fatih Birol, the IEA chief economist, speaking at International Energy and Environment Fair and Conference in Istanbul said four main issues would affect the future of the world energy market: high oil prices, abundance of natural gas in the world market, return of nuclear energy and climate change. Commenting Turkey’s energy policy, Birol added: “Turkey can review its contracts with exporter countries. The current contracts between Turkey and natural gas exporter countries should be updated”

28 April 2010, Reuters India
On the occasion of a UN major event, Fatih Birol, the IEA Chief economist said “If the oil prices stay at this level of $85 a barrel and above will be a major risk for strangling the economic recovery efforts, which are very very fragile anyway”. He added that “If as a result of economic recovery, demand continues to grow and if the investment regime is as it is today in four or five years time, we may well see prices which are higher than now”.

28 April 2010, Calgary Herald
After a speech at the United Nations, IEA Chief Economist, Fatih Birol said that Crude oil prices of $85 a barrel or higher could "strangle" an economic rebound. Birol added he is not hopeful an agreement on climate change would come out of talks in Cancun later this year.