Demand-side measures available to governments, businesses and households span road transport, air travel, cooking and industry amid strains in diesel, jet fuel and LPG markets
The International Energy Agency today set out a range of demand-side actions that governments, businesses and households can take to alleviate the economic impacts on consumers of the disruptions to oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East.
The conflict has triggered the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries around 20% of global oil consumption, reduced to a trickle. Around 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and oil products typically transit the Strait. The loss of these flows has tightened markets significantly, pushing crude oil prices above $100 per barrel and driving even sharper increases in refined products such as diesel, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Restoring transit through the Strait of Hormuz remains essential to stabilise global energy markets. In the meantime, countries are acting on both supply and demand. On 11 March, IEA Member countries agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves – the largest stock draw in the Agency’s history. However, supply-side measures alone cannot fully offset the scale of the disruption. Addressing demand is a critical and immediate tool to reduce pressure consumers by improving affordability and supporting energy security (....)